Ready, Set, Investigate!
by Jon'ic Recheio
Summary: “Donna Noble, health and safety.” “John Smith, health and safety.” SPOILERS for "Partners in Crime." There's ten thousand tiny marhsmallows floatin' above London. Huh.
1. London, 21st Century!

**_READ THIS!!_**Great, okay, now that I have your attention, I need you to know, this is a sequel to "A Modern Myth", I also need to tell you that you don't have to read that story to understand this one, but it would help. Okay then, off you go. Read and review! (No, there isn't any sex in this story!)

ALL RECOGNIZABLE DIALOGUE BELONGS TO BBC!!(I just transcribed it. )

* * *

Cale sighed and forced his hands further into his cargo-pant's pockets. His red t-shirt bunched over his wrists as he leaned back against a sandstone-like wall in the TARDIS. The Doctor was on his back underneath the main console, upper body completely obscured by machinery. His blue suit jacket was hanging on the railing and his selves were rolled up. All Cale could see as he watched were the Doctor's skinny blue-clad legs and red All-stars.

Cale ran his hand through his hair, a bad habit he had picked up from the Doctor, after only a week. It had been a week since their adventure with Torchwood. He'd been traveling with the Doctor for seven days now and he honestly couldn't say what he though of it yet. He wasn't an insulated 21st century Earthling who had never seen the universe, but he was hardly well traveled. The Doctor had yet to say a word about Gallifrey, though. It made Cale feel cheated. He'd never get the chance to see his home planet; the least the Doctor could do was describe it to him.

"_Burning skies with burning people…_"

Cale smiled over at the main console in thanks. Even if the TARDIS spoke in riddles, it was something. More than the Doctor was willing to give at any rate. Cale rolled his eyes skyward and shifted his weight. His feet had begun to hurt from standing so long.

"What are ya doin'?" Cale asked, curiosity finally eroding the last vestiges of his self-control.

"Just a routine tune-up. We'll be back online in no time." the Doctor replied, voice muffled by the console.

"Uh-huh." Cale pushed off the wall and walked over to the Doctor, crouching next to the Time Lord's knees. "But, _what_ are you doin'?"

"I told you, routine check up—ow!" the Doctor told him, voice rising an octave at the end as he managed to prick his hand on something in the TARDIS' innards.

"Yeah, but what does that entail?" Cale persisted, craning his neck to peer inside the console.

"Checking over the time calculation matrixes, fuel conversion unit, Vortex shield generator, Chameleon Arch settings, the works." the Doctor answered in his usual rapid-fire way.

"Okay." Cale blew out on a breath, rocking back on his heels slightly as his balance wavered. "I have no idea what you just said, but I'll take your word for it, Doc."

"What do you mean you don't understand?" the Doctor pushed out from under the console to look at Cale, sonic-screwdriver in one hand and a bunch of sparking wires in the other. He had a comical frown on his face that Cale was rapidly becoming familiar with.

"You should understand every word of what I just said, why don't you?" the Doctor continued to question, frown screwing up his face.

"Why should I understand it?" Cale asked, more confused than insulted at the moment. "I've never seen this type of technology before. The Time Agency hadn't even gotten past…I've never time traveled before, let's leave it at that."

"The Time Agency has nothing to do with this." the Doctor answered, pushing completely out from under the TARDIS controls and sitting up. "You should know this ship by now. It's a Time Lord thing. Well, I'm fairly sure it is, it's been a while since I first met her. Can't really remember."

"I'm not a Time Lord." Cale looked away, eyes focused on the ramp leading to the doors. "I'm not you, Doctor. I won't ever be." he shook his head ruefully and looked back at the Doctor. He rubbed his right cheek, which was still scrapped. He'd just taken the stitches out yesterday. "This should have been healed by now, or so you keep tellin' me."

"Yes, it should've." the Doctor acknowledged, completely missing Cale's indignant frown. "I don't know why it hasn't, Cale, but it should've. I mean, you should know how this ship works. It's inbuilt into your brain, well the pyschic center of your brain."

"No, I shouldn't be healed." Cale interrupted the Doctor's would be ramble. "I'm human too, remember? They break easy and heal slowly. I'm not you and I can't ever be you. I wouldn't even make a decent imitation."

"Time Lord genetics are stronger than weak human genes." the Doctor told him, mind processing a mile a minute. Cale could see it on his face and if he tried hard enough, he could imagine steam billowing out of the Doctor's ears as his mind worked.

"They should have taken over all of your bodily functions, you do have two hearts. It doesn't make sense that only certain things are active while others are completely dormant. It's worrying to be perfectly blunt." the Doctor told him as if he was reporting the evening weather.

Cale glared at him. "Oh, thank you for that!" he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped. I do have to point out though, that I wasn't _born_ I was constructed. The best of both worlds picked apart and super-glued together with a retrovirus and some radiation. Stands to rea-"

"-reason that not everything would be working! Of course!" the Doctor finished Cale's brainwave, triumphant grin on his face. Suddenly, he stopped grinning, completely serious. "Oh, that's not good. If they cut and pasted your entire genetic structure, who knows what could be wrong! You're a Time Lord, our brains don't work like humans, we don't suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder like humans. We do, however, suffer extreme cases of schizophrenia. The very mention of the Time Agency shouldn't be making you flinch."

"Gee, go ahead and say it again." Cale muttered darkly under his breath. He'd learned to forgive the Doctor quickly for saying whatever jumped into his mind. He sighed again, gathering what was left of his patience. "So, what, my mind doesn't work right, either? Can't we just settle for 'Cale is human and thus flawed' and leave it at that?"

"I don't just 'settle'." the Doctor informed him haughtily, eyes narrowing in reproach at Cale. "I find the answers, or at least, an acceptable theory. _That_ is not it."

"Okay, so you don't settle." Cale acquiesced, hands raised in a brief gesture of surrender. He put his hands down and shrugged. "But I honestly don't think my body is goin' to suddenly lose molecular cohesion and become a puddle of organic goo. That would've happened by now, yeah?"

"There!" the Doctor exclaimed, moving to rest on his knees and pointing a finger excitedly at Cale. "See? It's in there somewhere! That good ol' Time Lord intelligence. You just can't get to it all of the time, apparently. That's odd. Very odd. And mildly disturbing."

"Right." Cale said disbelievingly. He took in a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling for a moment. He pushed to his feet, the Doctor following. "We should go somewhere."

"Yeah, we should." the Doctor agreed. A strange harmonic beeping filled the chamber.

The Doctor frowned and raced around to the other side of the TARDIS' main controls. His brown eyes focused on the rectangular shaped LCD screen that usually displayed strange circular symbols. He peered at it intently for a few long moments before his eyes went wide and he grinned. He turned to Cale, a manic look on his face that was becoming normal to Cale.

"I think I've just found us some excitement. In 21st century London." the Doctor told him, looking far to pleased with himself.

Cale grinned back. "So, what are we waitin' for? Let's go!"

"Allons-y!"

RSI

Donna Noble looked up at the large, shiny, and slightly imposing skyscraper with a twisting feeling of dread settling deep in her gut. It had seemed like a good idea when she'd woken up this morning, but right now, she wasn't so sure infiltrating a major corporation was her brightest idea. Neither was lying to her mother, but she'd been doing that since she was fourteen. With a small sigh, she gathered her considerable nerve and walked past the big, streamlined sign proclaiming "Adipose Industries" to the world.

She walked up the concrete steps and into building through a set of revolving doors, and into a marble floored lobby. A smartly dressed, uniformed guard was waiting for her at the door to the auditorium. She pulled an ID from her purse.

"Donna Noble, health and safety." she told him, swiftly flashing her—now invalid—ID card.

The guard just nodded and let her inside.

Well, that was one hurdle jumped. About half a million more to go. Joy.

RSI

"21st century London!" the Doctor jovially pronounced as he and Cale stepped out of the TARDIS and into an alley. "Well, an alley in 21st century London. Would you like to get a look around?"

"As long as it leads us in the direction of those strange signals." Cale responded with a smirk. He gestured towards the street. "Lead the way, brave sir."

"I was knighted once, you know." the Doctor said absently as they joined the rest of London on the wide sidewalk. "But, just after I was banished. By the Queen, no less. And after I'd saved her from that werewolf, too, of all things!"

"You've gotta be kiddin' me." Cale scoffed. "A werewolf? Get outta here. Those don't exist."

"Well, no, you're right, they don't." the Doctor answered, confusing Cale even further. "It was an alien that took over a human body and transformed into the shape of a wolf in the moonlight. Which, when you think about it, doesn't make very much sense as the light that comes from the moon is, essentially, sunlight."

"Huh." Cale mumbled, frowning. He thought about it for a few moments before shrugging and giving up. He'd never understand it, anyway.

"Ah, here we go!" the Doctor stopped, craning his head back to look up at the large, towering skyscraper. "Adipose Industries."

"We parked close this time." Cale said, looking over his shoulder down the block towards the alley. "I'm sure it'll come in handy. Maybe. Hopefully. Dammit, I jinxed it!"

"Oh, hardly," the Doctor dismissed with a wave of his hand, "words don't influence your luck. Well, actually, I take that back. That's what the Carranights were all about."

"The who-whats?" Cale asked as they walked towards the building's back fire door.

"Carranights." the Doctor repeated as he used his sonic-screwdriver to open the door, creating a shower of sparks on the inside. "What this planet would call witches. They used words and pyschic energy to influence their surroundings. Met them back with Martha and Shakespeare."

"Ah, okay." Cale sighed, resigning himself to the fact he'd never understand even half of what the Doctor was talking about.

He followed the Doctor inside the doors, carefully closing them to the best of his abilities behind himself. He had to hot-foot it to keep up with the Doctor's long, quick strides as they strode down the concrete hallway. It was wet, mildly humid and dimly lit the light from outside just barely supporting the internal lighting system. Cale longed for 51st century technology at that very moment in time. Things would be a whole lot cleaner and far more streamlined. Well, they were in the future London they'd visited three days ago.

Cale's eyes suddenly went wide as he spotted a guard walking towards them down the hallway. His heart leapt into his throat, panic beginning to gnaw at his insides as all sorts of worst-case scenarios flooded his mind. He could see them being, shot, arrested, questioned, tarred and feathered…okay, Cale, enough of that! He told himself firmly. He swallowed hard and gave the Doctor's back a nervous glance.

As they passed the guard, the Doctor withdrew a wallet with a blank piece of paper in it from his pocket and flashed it, saying. "John Smith, health and safety."

"Excuse me, sir." the guard spoke, stopping Cale and the Doctor in their tracks. "What about him?"

"Cale Harkness." Cale said before he could think it through. "Job shadow from Bristol Secondary school."

"He's with me." the Doctor added, tilting his head towards Cale.

"Carry on, then." the guard let out a longsuffering sigh and continued on his way.

Cale let out a relieved breath and hurried once more to keep up with the Doctor's rapid gait. He had honestly thought they were in for it when the guard had appeared, but apparently, he could be swayed by a blank sheet of paper in a fancy wallet flashed in an official manner. Adipose needed to up their security, Cale thought condescendingly.

"Harkness? Out of every possible name in the universe, you chose _Harkness_?" the Doctor hissed at him once they were out of earshot of the guard.

"It was the first name that came to mind!" Cale defended himself. "Smith would have been too suspicious." Cale frowned over at the Doctor. "Besides, I thought you liked Jack. I do, anyway."

"I like Jack just fine." the Doctor rebutted. "I just don't see why _you_ had to go and use his name."

"Oh for the love of…"

RSI

"Adipose Industries. The 21st century way to loose weight. No exercise, no diet, no pay. Just life-long freedom from fat. The holy grail of the modern age. And here it is." the tall, skinny bond woman on the stage held a small red and white pill between her thumb and forefinger in her right hand for all in the audience to see.

Donna stared intently up at the stage, watching closely for any signs of weirdness. It's what she was there for, after all. Weird was where the Doctor was, and if she wanted to find the Doctor, then she had to follow the weird.

"You just take one capsule. One capsule once a day for three weeks, and the fat, as they say," the woman turned slightly, looking back at the large projection screen showing a blue Adipose Industries logo.

The screen rippled and words appeared at the bottom, bubbling then returning to normal. A male voice and a strange shimmering sound filtered through the sound system proclaiming,

"The fat just _walks_ away."

"Excuse me, Miss Foster," a young dark skinned woman called out across the isle from Donna, "if I could, I'm Penny Carter, science correspondent for the Observer. There are a thousand diet pills on the market, a thousand conmen stealing people's money. How do we know the fat isn't going straight into your bank account?"

"Oh, Penny, if cynicism burnt off calories, we'd all be as thin as rakes. But if you want the science, I can oblige." the woman said with cloying sweetness. She removed her glasses and once again turned to look at the overlarge projection screen.

The Adipose logo spun, zoomed in, then disappeared, leaving a strange blue colored outline of a human being, an overweight human being. The sound system once again issued forth the voice of a man.

"Adipose Industries. The Adipose capsule is composed of a synthesized mobilizing lipase bound to a large protein molecule. The mobilizing lipase breaks up the triglycerides stored in the Adipose cells. Which then enters the blood stream…"

RSI

The Doctor and Cale stopped outside a blue metal door marked "Projection Room" and shared a brief look before the Doctor opened the door and stepped in, leaving Cale to once again close the door behind them. The Doctor looked out the small projection window at the large black screen, sparing a brief calculating glance at the animation before focusing on the man running the projector itself. He whipped out his psychic paper once more.

"_..causing spontaneous fat consumption_…"

"John Smith, Health and safety." the man gave the Doctor an odd look. "Film Department." he gestured to Cale, who was standing on the balls of his feet trying to see over the machine and out of the small projection hole. "He's my job shadow."

The man gave him another dubious look but didn't comment as the Doctor slipped his physic paper back into his pocket. The Doctor gave the man a brief smile, shot Cale a warning look, then focused his attention on what the thin blond woman on the stage was saying as she began to speak after the animated presentation ended.

"One hundred percent legal, one hundred percent effective." the woman told the crowd, a superior air about her.

RSI

"But, can I just ask," Penny once more interrupted. Donna shot her a brief look across the isle that was completely ignored, "how many people have taken the pills to date?"

"We've already got over one million customers within the greater London area alone. But from next week, we start rolling out nation wide." the woman informed Penny, giving her a condescending smile.

Penny was hurriedly scribbling notes and missed the look entirely, but Donna caught it. It made her frown. Most business people didn't do that sort of thing in public, in her experience. Something was most definitely going on in this strange place, that was for sure.

"The future starts here." the woman went on to say, pointing to the ground to indicate Adipose as the beginning. "And Brittan _will_ be thin."

RSI

Donna pushed open yet another bland steel-blue door and stepped into a flurry of activity. It took a moment for her sense to adjust to all of the noise and motion going on around her. Row upon row upon row of cubicles filled the room. Everyone was on a phone in front of a computer and there were multiple phones ringing at once all over the place. Donna got the impression that there was always the sound of ringing from nine to five. That would get very annoying, she was sure.

She'd been here for all of thirty seconds and it was already starting to grate.

With a loud sigh, she walked down a random row of cubicles, trying in vain to block out the constant ringing like everyone else seemed to be able to. It was no wonder her job with the telephone company hadn't lasted very long. She could hardly stand it right now and she didn't work here every day five days a week. What an absolute hell.

She spotted a man busily engaged in a conversation with someone else and slipped—what she hoped—was inconspicuously into the cubicle.

"…that's a three week course of pills for the special price of 25 pounds." the man trailed off at the end of his sentence, giving Donna curious and wary look.

She flashed her ID at him and whispered, "Donna Noble, Health and Safety, don't mind me."

The man nodded to her and continued, "Box comes with 21 days worth of pills, full information pack and our special free gift, an Adipose Industries pendant."

The man hung up his phone after a brief conversation with the person on the other end, then turned in his rolling chair to face Donna.

She smiled disarmingly at him. "I'll need one of those pendants, if you don't mind."

"Yes, of course." the man reached over to the other side of his desk and handed Donna a blue case.

She smiled nervously and opened it, dangling the gold pill in front of her face. She frowned at it. "I'll need to keep this for testing, if you don't mind. And I just need a list of your customers, could you print it off?"

"I suppose so." the man agreed reluctantly.

"Where's the printer?" Donna asked, briefly scanning the cubicle for the device.

The man tipped his head up. "Just over there by the plant."

Donna stood up and looked over the thin carpeted wall of the cubicle. "Which plant? That plant?"

The man sat up straighter in his chair to see over the wall as well. "Yeah, that's the one."

"Lovely." Donna said as she sat back down. She gave the man another quick smile. She suddenly stood up again. "Does it need a code? Last place I worked, printer needed a code."

"No." the man responded, now starting to get impatient. "You can do it from here."

Just as Donna was about to leave the cubicle, Miss Foster strode into the main bullpen of cubicles. Her hair was immaculately done up in a bun, her back ramrod straight and clothes meticulously pressed. She had two guards flanking her on either side. They made Donna nervous. She ducked low, watching Foster just over the top of the cubicle. For one disturbing moment, she had a flashback of the Matrix. She suddenly understood how Neo felt at that exact moment. Here's the day, Donna thought irritably, that I've finally lost it.

"Excuse me, everyone!" Foster raised her voice over the din and suddenly everything was quiet. Even the phones had stopped ringing. "If I could have your attention,"

Every single one of the workers stood up and faced Miss Foster, hands folded behind their backs or resting just at their sides. Donna felt like she'd fallen into some bizarre corporate boot camp.

"On average you're each selling forty Adipose packs per day," she paused, eyeing them all in turn, "it's not enough. I want one hundred sales per person, per day."

Donna ducked completely behind the walls of the cubicle, wincing and berating herself for even attempting to investigate Adipose Industries. This was not working at all. Not even remotely. In the history of bad ideas I've ever had, this comes in first bloody place, she thought angrily.

"And if not," Miss Foster continued, her next words were obviously going to be a corporate threat, "you'll be replaced. And if anyone's good at trimming the fat, it's me. Now," she pulled on the hem of her suit jacket, giving all of the employees one final look, "back to it."

With that, she turned on her heels and walked out, posture still as regal as it had been when she walked in. Donna gave a relieved sigh when the man she was with sat back down in his cubicle chair. She had the strangest feeling she had been extremely lucky.

"Sir, if you could just print off that list, I'll get out of your way, thank you." Donna said as she stood, wanting to get out of the place as quickly as humanly possible. She didn't want the poor man to get fired because of her.

"Sure." the man said distractedly as he pressed the correct button to print on his keyboard.

"Lovely. Thanks, then. See ya." Donna said as she gathered her large, black leather purse. She gave the man one last smile before striding confidently over to the printer, red clipboard clutched to her chest, like she owned the place. She found that approach worked rather well.

She watched, tapping her foot impatiently as the printer spit out yellow pages with the required contact information for Adipose's clients. She needed to get to these people and talk to them, find out what was going on. She could feel it in the air; something wasn't right with this place. That or the oatmeal she'd had for breakfast just wasn't sitting right. It was hard to tell sometimes, trouble and indigestion felt startlingly similar.

Finally, the printer spit out the pages and she hastily gathered them up, walking away just as a man in a brown suit and a boy in a red shirt walked up to it. Must be job shadow day, she thought absently, mind already forming a plan to get into the first client's house without arousing suspicion. She barely suppressed a grin. This was going to be absolutely insane, she thought excitedly.

* * *

That's the end of chappie one! This story is finished and I'll be posting one chapter a day for five days, as per usual to all of those who know me. Now, tell me what ya think!


	2. Adipose Industries and Marshmallows

Hello, welcome to chapter two! For those of you who are confused to much to read this fic, go and read "A Modern Myth". Oh, and one more thing, I wound up breaking this up into six chapters instead of five. It's still finished thought, so have some fun! Oh, and REVIEW!!

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The Doctor and Cale walked into the organized chaos of the bullpen, wincing at the cacophony of sounds. Cale rubbed his ears briefly eyes scanning for all of the entrances and exits. The last time he'd been in an office building he'd been running from security after he'd stolen a computer prototype to sell to the local pawn shop for some cash. It hadn't gone down very well. At all. He yanked his thoughts back into the present and focused on the Doctor, who was also giving the place a quick once over.

"So, who's the lucky contestant?" Cale asked, eyes once again roving about the large room. He could hardly believe how many cubicles and people they'd managed to pack into this fixed space. It was almost as mind boggling as the TARDIS.

"Her." the Doctor said, jerking his head towards a young black woman with a headset on earnestly trying to convince a potential customer to buy her product.

"Okay." Cale shrugged and hurried after the Doctor as the man set off at his usual clip. He was gonna have to learn to slow down one of these days, or he'd lose someone in some random city on some random planet in the middle of bloody nowhere.

Cale almost lost him as he slipped into their target's cubicle, settling in the empty chair and waving his pyschic paper in the woman's face.

"John Smith, Health and Safety, don't mind me." he whispered as he sat back, putting away his pyschic paper.

The woman paused for a moment so small that Cale would have missed it had he not been watching her carefully. She gave the Doctor an appraising look that Cale could read on at least fifty different alien species. He clamped his left hand over his mouth to keep from collapsing in laughter. That woman _so_ wanted the Doctor, so much so, that it wasn't even funny. Well, he'd take that back. It was completely and utterly hilarious, or, it soon would be at any rate.

She gave the usual spiel to the customer, but when she got to the gold pendant part, she obligingly handed the Doctor one. He nodded in thanks, leaned back in the rolling chair, put his left ankle on his knee and dangled the strange piece of jewelry in front of his face.

Cale leaned in closer, trying to get a good look at it. It seemed completely innocuous to him, but his gut was saying different. Something was up with that pendant. Most companies didn't give away 24 karat gold as a free gift. That costs money, lots of money, even in the 51st century. Although, strangely, quartz was rising in the market last he checked.

"…and it's yours for free." the woman finished, smiling back at the Doctor. "No, we don't give away pens. Sorry. No, I can't make an exception to that. Thank you. Yes, goodbye."

"I'll just need to keep this for testing, if that's alright." the Doctor said, pocketing the pendant before the woman could answer.

"Yeah, sure, of course." she replied, smiling again. She frowned over at Cale. "Who's he?"

"Job shadow." the Doctor curtly replied. "I'm also going to need a list of your clients. Just need to check and make sure every is happy with what they bought. Do you mind printing if off for me?"

"No, of course not." the woman said congenially. She opened the correct file on the computer and began the process to print it. "Printer's over there."

The Doctor stood up and looked over the top of the cubicle. "That's the printer there?"

The woman stood up halfway from her chair, just barely peeking over the wall. She sat back down and smiled yet again at the Doctor. "By the plant, yeah."

Cale nearly collapsed in gasping hysterics. He bit the fleshy part of his hand between his thumb and forefinger, earning a strange look from the Doctor.

"Brilliant." the Doctor responded, completely missing the way the saleswoman was looking at him.

He stood up again, a sudden thought occurring to him. He looked over at the printer. "Has it got paper?"

"Yeah, Jeffery keeps it stocked." the woman responded, not minding in the least.

Just as the Doctor and Cale were about to make for the printer, Miss Foster strode into the room, commanding complete silence and attention.

"Excuse me, everyone!" Foster raised her voice over the din and suddenly everything was quiet. Even the phones had stopped ringing. "If I could have your attention,"

Every single one of the workers stood up and faced Miss Foster, hands folded behind their backs or resting just at their sides. Cale felt like he was in the middle of some strange military base the way everyone reacted. Even the increasingly annoying phones had ceased their tittering. He could have sworn he heard a pin drop somewhere on the third floor below them. It was unsettling, to say the least. He ducked down low in the cubicle, resisting the urge to crouch under the particle board desk.

That would just make him look like a baby.

The Doctor carefully peaked over the top of the cubicle, observing the back of Miss Foster's blond head.

"On average you're each selling forty Adipose packs per day," she paused, eyeing them all in turn. As her head turned towards the Doctor, he ducked back down low too, sharing a concerned look with Cale.

"She has guards with her." he hissed, looking worried.

"Great." Cale bemoaned quietly.

"It's not enough. I want one hundred sales per person, per day." Foster finished, threat just under the surface of her seemingly cheerful voice.

"And if not," Miss Foster continued, her next words were obviously going to be a corporate threat, "you'll be replaced. And if anyone's good at trimming the fat, it's me. Now," she pulled on the hem of her suit jacket, giving all of the employees one final look, "back to it."

With that, she turned on her heels and walked out, posture still as regal as it had been when she walked in. Cale let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and slowly stood back up, once again leaning back against the paper thin wall of the cubicle. He felt very lucky at that exact moment in time; he could tell the Doctor was thinking the same thing too, which made him worried again. That look on the Doctor's face was never good. It meant he didn't really have a plan to begin with.

"Anyway," the Doctor said, sitting back down in his chair with the rest of the employees, "if you could print that off, thanks."

"Certainly, sir." the woman pressed down the print key on her computer.

"Thanks, then." the Doctor made to stand, but the woman pulled him back down into his seat and handed him a folded piece of white paper. "Oh, what's that?"

"My telephone number." she coyly replied.

"What for?" the Doctor asked, completely confused and suspicious.

Cale snorted with laughter again. "What for, he says?"

"Health and safety." the woman answered, trying to appear seductive. "You be health, I'll be safety."

Cale laughed outright and stumbled into the isle way. He'd heard better pick up lines off of drunken space pirates. 21st century Earthlings were so peculiar with dating and sex, he'd never understand it. Jack would know. He'd have to give him a call sometime, if he could steal the Doctor's cell phone.

The Doctor's mouth dropped open in shock at the woman's forwardness. "Oh, ah, um, I can't. Um, paragraph C, sub section five. Sorry." he swiftly backed out of the cubicle, nearly tripping over a snickering Cale in the process.

"Stop it, it's not funny!" the Doctor insisted as he walked over to the printer. He paused, then frowned. It was empty. "Huh."

"Maybe it's in here." Cale lifted the lid of the copy machine, also finding that empty. "Weird. Damn 21st century tech. Never works right."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and walked back over to the saleswoman's cubicle, grabbing the wall with is hands and just putting his head over the top. He smiled nervously. "Ah ha ha, me again."

The woman smiled smugly, thinking he had reconsidered her offer of a date. "Yeah?"

"It didn't print, do you mind hitting it again?" the Doctor said, completely smashing her hopes of a night out on the town.

She rolled her eyes and hit the print button again, glaring at Cale for laughing at the both of them.

RSI

Donna pulled her little blue car up to the first house on the list. It was night time, just after dinner. A little late to be knocking on someone's door, but that didn't really bother her at the moment. She sighed, turned off the car, then opened the door and stepped out. The house itself was small, crammed in next to two other houses, all of them with zero lot lines on the side. Whosever idea it was to put houses so close together should have been shot a long time ago, in her opinion. It was just uncomfortable, having neighbors so close. When she got her own house, she'd have at least one hundred yards of space between her and the neighbors.

She walked up the short concrete walk and to the front door, using the knocker instead of the doorbell. It made her feel more official.

The door opened to reveal a young woman, barely over twenty five in a purple shirt and holding the back of her head. She dropped her hand and her hair fell about her shoulders with it.

"Stacy Campbell?" Donna inquired politely.

"Who wants to know?" Stacy asked cheerfully, briefly glancing out at the street.

"Uh, my name's Donna. I represent Adipose Industries." she flashed her useless Health Inspector ID. "And you're on the list of our valued customers."

"Oh, really? Well c'mon in, then." Stacy smiled and ushered Donna into her house, leading them to the living room.

Donna glanced around briefly before perching herself daintily on a zebra print chair. Stacy chose to stand. "So, tell me, how has your experience with our product been so far?"

"It's been fantastic!" Stacy enthused. "I started the pills on Thursday. Five days later, I've lost eleven pounds." She gestured to her body, feeling quite proud of herself.

"And, no side effects or anything?" Donna inquired hesitantly, not wanting to worry Stacy unduly.

"No, I feel fantastic." Stacy replied, completely unconcerned. She seemed so bright and happy, that Donna was questioning if there was anything wrong with Adipose after all. "It's a new lease on life. Now, what do you think about these earrings, do they work?"

"Yeah." Donna answered dutifully. They looked rather gaudy to her. "Lovely." She frowned. "You going on a date?"

"I'm doing the opposite," Stacy said turning around, "I'm dumpin' him. I can do better than him now. Right, I won't be long," she walked towards the stairs that led to the bathroom, "if the taxi beeps, give me a shout."

RSI

Cale and the Doctor walked up the drive towards the second client on the list's house. They shared a look, admiring the street and the house itself a moment, before walking up to the front door. Cale looked up and down for a camera, frowning when he didn't find one. They had cameras in the 51st century. He was used to people knowing they were there the moment you landed on their doorstep. It felt odd to have to ring the bell.

"There's no cameras." Cale threw out on a whim.

"People in the 21st century aren't as paranoid as you lot." the Doctor responded mildly. He banged the knocker. "Now, best behavior, yeah?"

"Pot. Kettle. Possibly black, or maybe a dark shade of gray?" Cale muttered darkly under his breath.

"Eh, watch it you." the Doctor scolded just before the door opened.

A middle aged man wearing a brown sweater answered the door. The Doctor got the distinct impression this man was picked on throughout high school and he looked far to thin to be on diet pills, anyway. He seemed fit and healthy; the Doctor couldn't imagine why someone like him could possibly want to go on a diet. It didn't make a whole lot of sense, but right now that wasn't why he was there. He pulled out his pyschic paper. The gadget was getting a lot of use this time around.

"Mr. Rodger Davies, I'm calling on behalf of Adipose Industries, just need to ask you a few questions." he put his pyschic paper away and smiled disarmingly at the man.

Cale waved his hand lamely in greeting, unsure what exactly he was supposed to say. The usual greeting from where he was from was out, anyway. "Hi."

"Right, of course, um, come in." Mr. Davies ushered them into the house, closing the door behind them.

He led the group over to the living room, settling himself in a padded whicker chair. Cale wandered over to the bookshelves, absently scanning them for something interesting.

He couldn't really find much, but it was better than nothing.

"So, Mr. Davies, how long have you been on the pills?" the Doctor asked carefully, ever the consummate investigator.

"I've been on the pills two weeks now. I've lost fourteen kilos." the man reported, hands folded in his lap as he watched the Doctor pace in front of him.

"That's the same amount every day." the Doctor observed, hands stuff in his pockets as he stopped his pacing to stare at Rodger.

Rodger nodded. "One kilo exactly. You wake up and it's disappeared overnight." Mr. Davies stopped, suddenly looking nervous. "Well, technically speaking, it's gone by ten past one in the morning."

Cale looked up from his inspection of the mantel and frowned over at Rodger. "Seriously? That's weird."

The Doctor shot Cale a warning look, then turned back to Davies, raising an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"That's when I get woken up." Rodger said with a longsuffering sigh. "Might as well weigh myself at the same time."

The Doctor frowned, brain obviously trying to work out all of the many possibilities for this strange occurrence. He didn't know what was going on, but he was bound and determined to find out.

Rodger leaned forward in his seat, a serious look on his face. "It is driving me mad. Ten minutes past one, every night, _bang_ on the dot, without fail, the burglar alarm goes off."

The Doctor's eyebrow climbed to new heights. "Really? Show me."

"This I gotta see." Cale mumbled, following the Doctor and Rodger outside to the front of the house.

They stopped by the main front window and looked up at a red and blue box-like thing anchored to the front of the house. It looked like some sort of primitive motion detector to Cale. It had a logo on the front that didn't make any sense to him. It sure looked like it would malfunction at the drop of the hat. However, the Doctor didn't appear to share his opinion. Cale found himself constantly realigning his own in the Doctor's company as, nine times out of ten, his own assessment of the situation was wrong.

"I've had experts in, I've had it replaced, I've even phoned Watch Dog. But no, ten past one in the morning off it goes." Rodger began to say as he and the Doctor stared up at the alarm.

"But with no burglar?" the Doctor sought to clarify.

"Really?" Cale looked impressed now. He smirked. "Sounds like a ghost story."

"You would think, wouldn't you?" Mr. Davies turned his head to respond to Cale. He focused back on the Doctor. "To answer your question, no there's always nothing. I've given up looking."

"Tell me, Rodger," the Doctor looked away from the alarm and focused his attention on Davies, "have you got a cap flap?"

"Cat flap?" Cale asked with a frown. "What's that?"

"Lets a pet, called a cat, into the house." the Doctor answered Cale. He frowned in thought. "They did have cats where you're from, right? I distinctly remember cats."

"Yeah, they have cats." Cale answered, frown fading away as they walked back inside the house, through the kitchen and to the back door. "Just not cat flaps."

"Here it is." Rodger gestured to the small, six inch by four inch flap in the bottom of the door.

The Doctor nodded and laid down on his stomach in front of it, pulling out his sonic-screwdriver on the way down. Rodger lay down next to him and Cale bent at the waist, peering at the strange flap over their heads. He'd never seen anything like it before and found himself oddly fascinated by it.

"It was here when I bought the house," Mr. Davies told them as the Doctor held the flap open with the butt of his sonic-screwdriver, "I never bothered with it, really. I'm not a cat person."

"No, I've met cat-people. You're nothing like them." the Doctor said absently, glancing out at Rodger's backyard through the cat flap.

"Cat-people?" Cale questioned the air, not really expecting a response from the Doctor. "First it's Shakespeare, now cat-people."

"Is that what it is, though? Cat's getting inside the house?" Rodger asked earnestly, desperate for some sort of answer.

The Doctor drew in a breath. "Well, the thing about cat flaps is, they don't just let things in, they let things out as well."

"Like what?" Rodger asked hesitantly, not entirely sure if he wanted the answer to that question or not.

"The fat just walks away." the Doctor quoted the presentation he and Cale had heard earlier that day.

"Oh, you have _got_ to be kiddin' me." Cale complained, running his hands through his hair.

The Doctor removed his sonic-screwdriver from the flap and stood, Rodger following his actions. He looked over at Cale. "Nope, I'm not kidding you."

RSI

"Won't be long!" Stacy called from the bathroom as she did her hair once more.

"Oh, that's alright!" Donna called back, awkwardly sitting on one of the chairs in Stacy's living room.

She reached into her suit jacket and pulled out the free pendant that the salesman had given her earlier that day. The telly droned on in the back ground as she fingered the strange little keepsake. She held it up to the light to look at it, trying to figure out exactly what was so special about this particular hunk of metal. Fairly expensive metal, she was sure. She couldn't figure why a company would give away something that was so valuable when their diet pills cost 25 pounds. For that steep of a price, they ought to be giving away pens or bumper stickers, not 24 karat gold pendants. She pulled it away from the light and absently began twisting it in her fingers, turning each section of the gold pill separately. It made a strange sort of squeaking noise, but she didn't think anything of it beyond the sound of metal scraping metal.

RSI

Stacy paused after she had applied her lip gloss as her stomach made a strange growling noise. She gasped and pressed her hand to her stomach, giving the mirror a worried look. It made the noise again, and this time she could feel something move. She gasped louder and stepped back from the sink, hand pressed to her stomach. She would swear she felt it ripple underneath the pressure of her hand. It was starting to frighten her.

The growling began to get louder and she could definitely feel something moving now. Her heart rate and breathing picked up as she lifted her shirt and stared open mouthed at her moving, rippling stomach in the mirror. As far as her knowledge of anatomy went, she was absolutely positive her stomach should _not_ be doing that. She stepped forward, turning so her body faced the mirror and looked down in horror at her stomach as it stretched, a lump seeming to almost detach from it.

This was getting down right creepy now.

RSI

"Well, thanks for your help." the Doctor said as he and Cale exited the house. The Doctor shook Rodger's hand as he backpedaled down the front steps. "Tell you what, maybe you could lay off the pills for a week or so."

"You're beeping." Cale pointed out as a strange beeping noise emanated from the Doctor's coat pocket.

"Oh!" the Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a strange three pronged device that flashed orange at the ends. It beeped again, this time louder and the Doctor grinned. "We have a signal! Gotta go, sorry!"

"Bye!" Cale tossed over his shoulder as he sprinted after the surprisingly quick Time Lord. It must be inbuilt into his DNA to run like a two-legged cheetah. "Hey, wait up!"

"Catch up!" the Doctor shouted back, not even looking up from his strange flashing, beeping and glowing orange device.

They tore down the street, dodging cars and late night joggers. Cale nearly tripped and fell over a woman walking her poodle. He turned his head to look at the strange creature for a brief moment before focusing his vision forward again. His eyes went wide and he juked left, nearly running headlong into a parked car. He let out a curse and put on an extra burst of speed to keep up with the Doctor, who was booking it as fast as his skinny alien legs would carry him. Cale rolled his eyes heavenward and prayed for more than adrenaline to keep his legs moving.

RSI

Stacy let out a distressed noise as the skin on her stomach began to stretch impossibly more outward. This wasn't supposed to be happening! She thought wildly, heart thudding painfully in her chest. My body doesn't just start to fall apart! She gasped and watched on in horror as a strange shape began to emerge from her skin. She couldn't help but watch in disgusted fascination as a strange little marshmallow-like thing pulled free of her stomach and landed in the sink.

She stood there gaping at it, barely hearing Donna shout from the living room.

"Stacy? You alright up there?"

Stacy nodded vaguely, even thought Donna couldn't see her. She cast a worried look at the door, then focused on the strange marshmallow being sitting innocently in her bathroom sink. This would be a story to tell the grandkids. They'd probably think she'd been on acid at the time.

Stacy forced herself to respond to Donna, not wanting the woman to come barging into the bathroom. "Yeah!"

The marshmallow made some strange cooing noises and Stacy could just see one little tooth poking out from under its lip. As far as strange little fat monsters went, this tiny thing was rather cute.

RSI

Donna stood up from her zebra print chair and made her way towards the stairs. Stacy had not sounded alright, even thought she said she was. It made Donna worry. A lot. Anything could be going on in that bathroom. From strange sewer monsters to the next door neighbor's pet python. She needed to get in there and make sure the poor woman was as okay as she had said. Donna opened the door that led to the stairs and crossed the hallway.

Strange noises filtered down from the bathroom as she approached the stairs, one of which sounded like Stacy, a distressed Stacy.

"Stacy?" Donna called again, slowly beginning to climb the stairs. "Are you alright?"

Stacy looked up sharply from the strange marshmallow that had come out of her hip. She watched as it joined its friend in the sink. "What-what-what are you?"

This was turning out to be one hell of a day.

Suddenly, her entire body began to move and ripple and Stacy began to cry, sounding even more distressed than before.

"Wouldn't mind a little visit myself." Donna said as she finished climbing the stairs. The sounds coming from the bathroom were really beginning to bother her now. "Everythin' alright in there?"

"Ah!" Stacy gasped, hands wildly moving about her body, trying to press down on the rippling and pulling and make it stop. She couldn't bring herself to respond to Donna this time.

Donna knocked hesitantly on the door. "It's only me. Do you mind if I pop to the loo? Stacy?"

Stacy's whimpers began to get louder as her flesh started moving and pulling in earnest. It was really starting to hurt her now. Donna be damned, she felt like she could just _scream_ at what was happening to her. This was the last time she took anything over the counter!

"Oh, help me! Oh my god, help me!" Stacy shouted through the door, hands falling to her sides as her body began to pull itself apart.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Donna leaned up against the polished wood door, twisting anxiously at the door handle, trying to open the locked door. Donna banged viciously on the door, but it wouldn't budge. "Stacy!"

Suddenly, a scream erupted from behind the bathroom door. It was just as suddenly cut off as Stacy's body was reduced to a dozen tiny marshmallow creatures. Donna banged even harder on the door, nearly falling on her face when she managed to force it open. When she had regained her balance, she looked around the empty bathroom, eyes freezing on the pile of Stacy's clothes.

There was no sign of the woman herself.

She turned her head, scanning the entire bathroom before movement at the window caught her eye. It was a strange white, little thing making cooing noises at her from the windowsill. Donna stared at it in open mouthed shock as it waved, then jumped out of the window calm as you please. She couldn't believe what she had just seen.

* * *

Okay, end of chappie two! Review, please, I really wanna know what ya'll think of this fic, and I won't until you tell me, so get too it already! Review!


	3. Ready, Set, Investigate!

OKie dokie, here's chappie three for the twenty or so people who are actually reading this. Don't you just love it when the hit counter bruises your ego?

The Doctor sprinted out across the street, Cale following closely at his heels. He glanced down at his strange device, then suddenly stopped and ran back into the middle of the street, hair and eyes wild from the run. Cale nearly tripped over him as the Doctor made his sudden 180. The Doctor paused in the middle of the street, looking down at the beeping device, before setting off down the street, only to stop again. This time, Cale ran face first into his back.

"Ow!" the teen grumbled. He rubbed his nose. "Warn a guy!"

"Ah, stupid little-!" the Doctor banged the device on his palm and it made another series of unintelligible beeps. He blew on it for good measure before holding it out in front of his face again. "There we go! This way, c'mon!"

Cale rolled his eyes and forced his legs to run after the Doctor, who was once again traveling down the middle of the street. They were lucky it was night; otherwise, someone would have run them over by now. The Doctor led them onto a sidewalk, still following the strange flashing beeps from the device. Cale trotted after him, pace considerably slowed as they both were tired from running for three blocks.

Suddenly, the device made and angry set of beeps and the Doctor frowned down at it. "Oh, not again!" he shook the little thing violently, and it made more beeps, this time holding out one long note. "Allons-y!"

"And, they're off!" Cale muttered as best he could, as he was short of breath. He ran after the Doctor, praying to whatever god that was listening that they could stop running now.

The Doctor stepped out into another street just as a black van with yellow flashing lights was coming barreling down it straight at him. His eyes were focused on his handheld device and he couldn't see it. Cale's heart leapt into his throat.

"Doctor!" he screamed as he grabbed the man's coat and yanked him out of the way of the speeding vehicle.

"What?" the Doctor consulted his device, then looked back up at the car. Suddenly, he was chasing after it. "This way!"

Cale sighed heavily and ran after him, not wanting to be left alone on a London street in the middle of the night. He was really starting to hate all of this running business. The Doctor took a sharp right into a dark alley, running for all he was worth down it, before slowing to a stop. Cale came up next to him, bent at the waist and panting harshly. The beeps from the device had trickled to nearly a stop as the Doctor looked down at it, frown marring his features. Cale let out a relieved sound. No more running.

"We lose it?" Cale asked, panting out each word.

"Yeah," the Doctor sighed, sounding disappointed. He turned around and pocketed the strange device. "C'mon, let's get back to the TARDIS and analyze that odd little pendant. See if we can't find something to go on."

"That sounds great." Cale took in a few deep breaths and forced himself upright. "Next time, we're so hijackin' some wheels."

"What, you're tired from a little bit of running?" the Doctor asked over his shoulder as he led the way back home.

"Little bit of runnin'?" Cale scoffed, hardly believing his ears. "That was a bloody marathon! I haven't run that much before in my life!"

"Oh, well, maybe you should." the Doctor suggested in a friendly manner. "I do a lot of running."

"That's encouragin'." Cale said blandly.

"I know, isn't it?" the Doctor tossed him a scary grin over his shoulder.

Cale gulped.

RSI

Donna followed the strange little marshmallow for as long as she could before she lost it completely. The only sound she got now was the sound of a trash can hitting the floor and a cat shrieking into the night. She frowned and followed the alley out to the main street, scanning it for the odd little being. She didn't see anything, but Stacy's taxi had arrived. Donna felt a pang of sorrow hit her like an anvil. Poor Stacy, who had not deserved to die at all.

"Stacy Campbell?" the cabbie asked as he pulled up to Donna and rolled down his window.

"No, she's gone." Donna said, breathing quick.

"Gone where?" the cabbie inquired, still wanting to collect his fare.

"She's just _gone_." Donna snapped, eyes frantically searching the street for any sign of Stacy or the marshmallow.

"Oh, great. Thanks for nothing." the cabbie said irritably. He rolled up his window, switched on his light and drove off, uncaring about Stacy.

Donna just watched him go, mouth open as she tried to catch her breath. This was turning out to be the worst day ever.

RSI

Donna gathered her courage for the second time that night and carefully twisted the key in the ignition until the car turned off. She rested her head on the steering wheel for a brief moment, before stepping out of the car and making her way up the driveway. Her mother was sure to be angry, but right now, she couldn't care less. A woman had died today, and she had been there when it had happened. She couldn't explain it, didn't really want to, and certainly not to her mother, nagging witch that she was.

With a heavy sigh, Donna opened the front door and stepped inside the house, leaning back against the door once she'd closed it. Today really had been crappy. Unimaginably crappy. Although, she could say with complete certainty, it was better than Stacy's day. That thought only made her feel even guiltier as she slowly made her way to the kitchen to face her mother's wrath and find a cup of tea. To make matters worse, the Doctor hadn't even shown up. She would have thought he'd be there when something like this was going down.

He hadn't been.

"And what time's this?" her mother's angry voice cut through Donna's thoughts.

She rolled her eyes skyward in exasperation. "How old am I?"

"Not old enough to use a phone." her mother said, giving her that same look she had gotten as a teenager. She was wiping her hands on a dish towel as she spoke to Donna.

"I thought you were only moving back for a couple of weeks. Look at you."

Donna rolled her eyes and sat down at the kitchen table, hot mug of tea between her hands. This was going to be one of those long lectures that you could tune out but completely understand once they were finished. Say yes to everything, dutifully nod your head, then disappear as quickly as humanly possible. Lord, she felt like she was sixteen all over again. Not exactly a pleasant feeling, Donna realized bitterly.

"I mean, you're never going to find a flat, not while you're on the tool. Well, it's no use sitting there dressed up looking like your job hunting. You've gotta _do_ something! It's not like it's the nineteen eighties, no one's unemployed these days. Except _you_. How long did that job with Health and Safety last? Two days! And then you walk out." her mother leaned over her chair briefly before stalking away. "'I have other plans.' Well, I've not seen them. Well, it's no good sitting there dreaming. No one's going to come along with a magic wand to make your life more better."

"Where's granddad?" Donna interrupted, taking a sip of her, now lukewarm, tea.

"Where do you think he is? Up the hill! He's _always_ up the hill."

RSI

Donna climbed the large, weedy and unkempt hill towards her beloved grandfather. He lived with her and her mother, had done for a while now, but every night, he'd climb this old hill with his telescope and thermos and stare up into space all night long. Donna admired him for it. She carried his forgotten red thermos in her hand, letting it swing idly as she climbed. It was always good to see her granddad; he always said just the right thing to make her feel better. It was a gift, he'd told her once. Donna believed him.

She walked through the strange junk yard, approaching a sheet metal hut just as her grandfather emerged from it, all bundled up in his heaviest winter gear. It was fairly cold out, Donna noticed for the first time. She suddenly wished she'd thought to bring a heavier jacket. Oh well, ya win some ya lose some.

"Aye, aye, here comes trouble, ha ha." her grandfather greeted as he sat down in his old folding chair in front of his telescope.

"Permission to board ship, sir?" Donna said in her best military voice, affecting a perfect salute for good measure.

"Permission granted." her grandfather said, returning the salute with a smile. "Was she naggin' ya?"

"Ha ha," Donna made a high pitched noise, "big time." she handed her grandfather the thermos. "Brought your thermos."

"Oh, ta," he said by way of thanks.

"You seen anything?" Donna asked, idly pacing the small area around her grandfather's telescope.

"Yeah, I've got Venus, within a power and magnitude of minus three-point-five. At least, that's what it says in my little book." he told Donna as she laid a blanket out on the floor to sit on. "There, have a seat. C'mon, there ya go."

Donna smiled at her granddad as he guided her to the telescope. She peered into the scope and smiled, listening to him as he spoke. "Right. That's the only planet in the solar system named after a woman."

Donna pulled her face away from the scope and looked up at the planet. "Good for her." she looked back into the telescope. "How far away is that?"

"Oh, it's about twenty-six million miles." her grandfather responded, looking up at the planet with her. "But we'll get there, one day. Hundred year's time we'll be stridin' out amongst the stars jigglin' about with all them aliens, just you wait."

Donna laughed, resting back on her heels. "You really believe in all that stuff, don't you?"

Her grandfather laughed too. "It's all over the place these days. If I wait here long enough…"

"I don't suppose you've seen a little blue box?" Donna inquired wistfully, staring up at the stars.

"Is that slang for something?" her grandfather asked, giving her a curious look.

"No." Donna said with a smile. "I mean it. If you ever see a little blue box flying up there in the sky you shout for me, gramps. Oh, you just shout."

He smiled at her. "Ya know, I don't understand half the things you say these days."

"Nor me."

"Ah," he nodded his head, "fair do's. You've had a funny ol' time of it lately. There's poor ol', what's his name, Lance? Bless him. That barmy old Christmas, whew. I wish you'd tell us what really happened."

"I know." Donna acknowledge softly. "It's just, the things I've seen, sometimes I think I'm going mad. I mean even tonight I was in a…doesn't matter."

"Well, you're not yourself, I'll give ya that." her grandfather responded. "You just, you seem to be driftin', sweetheart."

"I'm not drifting." Donna denied, once again focused on the stars. "I'm waiting."

"What for?" her grandfather inquired curiously.

"The right man." Donna cryptically replied.

"Oh, ho ho!" her grandfather exclaimed with a laugh. "Same old story! A man! Ha ha!"

"Oh!" Donna laughed, shaking her head. "I don't mean like that! But, he's real, I've seen him. I've met him, just once. And then I," she sighed, "I let him fly away."

"Well, there ya are, go and find him." her grandfather suggested, waving his hand.

"I've tried." Donna said empathically. "He's…_nowhere_."

"Eh, not like you to give up!" her grandfather protested. "See now, remember when you was about six years old your mother said 'No holiday, this year', so off you toddled, all on your own and you got on a bus. To Bristol, ha! We had the police out and everything! Where's she gone then, huh? Where's that girl, eh?"

"You're right." Donna replied with a smile. "'Cause see, he's still out there. Somewhere. I'll find him, gramps. Even if I have to wait a hundred years, I'll find him."

RSI

Cale yawned and watched from the strange car seat in the middle of the TARDIS as the Doctor bent over the Adipose Industries free gift, magnifying glass in his hand. His hair was still wild and sticking up everywhere, more so than usual, and Cale was sure he looked about the same, only more exhausted. He could fall asleep right in this seat, probably would in the next five minutes or so it took the Doctor to decipher exactly what that pendant actually was. It couldn't be that hard, the thing was tiny, only a limited number of things it could actually be in the 21st century.

"Oh, fascinating!" the Doctor said to Cale. Cale barely heard him, as he was yawning again. "It seems to be a bio-fed digital stitch specifically to-"

The Doctor looked up from his analysis of the pill for Cale when he noticed the boy had gone quiet. He smiled softly when he spotted his young charge. Cale had slumped over in the seat, eyes closed and breathing deeply, obviously asleep. He must have been far more tired than the Doctor had realized from all of the running. Setting his magnifying glass down on the TARDIS console, the Doctor walked over to Cale, gently shaking the boy's shoulder.

"Cale, Cale?" the Doctor called softly. "Wake up, kiddo. You don't wanna sleep here."

"Hmm, what?" Cale jerked awake, eyes blinking blearily against the bright light in the TARDIS.

"Go to bed." the Doctor instructed kindly, giving Cale a nudge. "Go on, off you go, get some sleep. You'll need it for tomorrow."

"Yeah," Cale said around a yawn as he stood. He made his way sleepily down the hallway, raising his hand in goodnight to the Doctor. "G'night, Doc."

"G'night!" the Doctor called absently back, once more focused on the Adipose Industries gift. He'd explain it to Cale in the morning.

RSI

"It's my turn for the car, what do you need it for?" Donna's mother protested as her daughter went about climbing into the aforementioned machine.

"A quick get away." Donna grouched as she slammed the door and started the engine. Time to head back to Adipose and implement her plan.

It was simple, really, she thought as she merged into traffic. Get in using her Health and Safety ID, then hide in the bathroom all day long. Boy, was that going to be cramped. She suddenly had doubts that she could sit in one place all day long. She didn't have a choice, though, she needed to find out what happened to Stacy and she needed to do it quickly. The poor woman deserved that much, at least. Mind resolved, Donna gripped the steering wheel tighter, held her head high, and made her way to Adipose.

RSI

The Doctor ran about the TARDIS console, making an almighty racket and setting their new coordinates. He'd thought it would be a good idea to move the ship and go to Adipose by a different route. Cale agreed. The boy watched as the Doctor hit a part of the console with a mallet, wincing in sympathy for the poor ship. He didn't understand why the Doctor had to randomly bang the hell out of different components, but he wasn't one to question something that worked. If it's not broken, don't fix it, was his motto. And the Doctor's, apparently. Well, most of the time, anyway.

"So, what are we gonna do today?" Cale asked as the ship began to make its usual grinding, whining noise.

"Break in then, wait out the day." the Doctor responded as the TARDIS finished materializing. He walked to the doors, opened them, and then stepped out into an alley, that strangely, had a compact blue four-door sedan parked in it.

"Uh…where?" Cale asked as they walked out onto the street.

"Janitor's closet." the Doctor nonchalantly replied.

"Um…what's a janitor?" Cale asked, feeling distinctly stupid.

"What's a janitor? Janitor's keep the place clean. You do have those in the 51st century, right? Is there something wrong with the TARDIS' translation circuits or something?"

"No, I understand you perfectly." Cale answered, feeling even more the fool. "I'm sure they have 'janitors' in the 51st century, we just call them somethin' else, Doc."

"Oh. Right. Of course." the Doctor covered. He shrugged. "I knew that."

"Uh-huh," Cale said disbelievingly. He frowned when they arrived at the same fire door the Doctor had jury-rigged yesterday. "Why park somewhere else when we're gonna go in the same door?"

"It's not the same door." the Doctor told him as he used his sonic-screwdriver to open it. A familiar shower of sparks erupted on the other side of the glass. "Yesterday's door was on the other side of the building. Come on."

"It was?" Cale asked as they slipped inside. He scanned the almost exactly the same hallway, unease settling in his gut. "Sure looks the same."

"Trust me, it's not." the Doctor led him around a maze of hallways until they came to a small janitor's closet with a sign next to it that said, 'No smoking or naked lights.'

"Naked lights?" Cale asked as the Doctor once again picked the door lock. "Now I really feel like and idiot, what does that mean?"

"It means," the Doctor started to explain as he locked them in the closet, "that you can't just wave an unprotected light bulb about willy-nilly."

"Uh…what's a light bulb?" Cale cleared his throat nervously, stuffing his hands in his pockets and giving the Doctor a sheepish look.

"Blimey! Are you _sure_ there's nothing wrong with the translation circuits?"

The fun really begins in the next chapter, so stay tuned! And, many thanks to you 28 people who have taken time out of your day to read this fic. You are much appreciated. REVIEW!


	4. And the Fun Begins!

Okay, chappie number four. Two more to go!

* * *

RSI

Donna boldly entered Adipose Industries once again through the front revolving door. She walked straight towards the elevator this time, intending to end up on the sales floor and find a bathroom there. It's where the most people were so it stood to reason that at least one of the stalls would be occupied all of the time. At least, that's what she hoped. And, she also hoped that the security guards watching the film upstairs didn't notice that she never actually left the bathroom. That would just put the finishing touch onto this day, she was sure.

She stepped into the elevator and smiled thinly at the middle aged man standing next to her, before pressing the 23rd floor button. She needed every ounce of will power that she possessed to keep herself from pacing the small car. It would only make her look suspicious. She needed to relax and seem as natural as possible, maybe even say hello to people she had never seen before in her life to seem like she belonged in this rigid place. Just keep thinking about Stacy, she told herself sternly, think about her and what these people did to her. You can do this, Noble. No worries.

The elevator doors opened and she stepped out, briskly walking down the rows of cubicles towards the end.

"Morning," she said to the first person she came across. He gave her an odd look as she purposely walked on by, purse tucked up under her arm.

Letting out a relieved sigh when she spotted the bathroom, Donna made a beeline for it, casually slipping inside. Thankfully, it was empty. Walking three-quarters of the way down the row of stalls, she stepped into one and locked the door behind herself. Setting her purse on the toilet paper dispenser, she sat down on the toilet and checked her watch, silently bemoaning how long she was going to have to stay in this tiny, cramped stall. Oh, what I do for justice, she thought with a longsuffering sigh.

RSI

The Doctor looked over at Cale, who had sat down on the floor and leaned back against the wall. The teen was sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest and staring vacantly into the empty air. After many questions about the cleaning supplies in the room, and a rather interesting discovery of a transmitter that Cale was actually familiar with, things had gotten rather boring rather quickly. The Doctor himself was sitting cross-legged on the floor with his chin in his hands, staring idly at the door. He'd never liked waiting. It always made him restless. He wanted so badly to get out of the janitor's closet and run up and down the hallway until his legs fell off.

"What time is it?" the Doctor asked, feeling like they had waited in this cramped closet long enough.

"Six fifteen pm, local time." Cale answered after he consulted his nano-watch. He'd stolen the gadget years ago and had been thankful for it ever since. It automatically set itself to the local time so you didn't get confused or forget. He yawned, covering his mouth with his hand. "Why?"

The Doctor jumped to his feet, eyes alight and suddenly alive. "The work day's over! C'mon, we have work to do!"

"Yeah!" Cale pumped his fist in the air, jumped up and raced out of the closet, following close at the Doctor's heels. "God, I missed this!"

"You what?" the Doctor turned and gave him the oddest look over his shoulder. "Say that again?"

"I said, I missed runnin'." Cale told him, running along side the Doctor now. "I hope I don't ever have to sit still for that long ever again!"

"Right, this way!" the Doctor shook off the strange sense of dejavu he'd just acquired and focused his mind on his plan. His currently nonexistent plan. Well, he'd think of something soon, he hoped.

RSI

Donna sighed and checked her watch for what seemed like the millionth time in the past five minutes, then smiled when she saw the time. Six fifteen pm. Work day was over fifteen minutes ago. Rolling her neck to ease the tension, she slowly pushed to her feet. Carefully, she unlatched the door and pulled it open; checking to make sure the coast was clear before stepping fully out of the stall. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when the guards didn't come running in and try to arrest her. So far so good. Now, if she could just get to the--

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Donna frowned, not comprehending where the sound was coming from at first before she realized that it was her cell phone. Eyes going wide, she turned, darted into the stall, shut the door and retrieved her phone from her purse. She looked at the caller ID and had to bite back a frustrated noise. It was her mother. It was _always_ her bloody mother! She harshly stabbed at the answer button and pressed the phone to her ear.

"Not now!" she hissed into the speaker.

"_I need the car_." her mother informed her crossly. "_Where are you_?"

"I can't, I'm busy." Donna said desperately as loudly as she dared.

"_Why are you whispering_?" her mother asked, curiosity taking over her angry mood at the moment.

"I'm in church." Donna lied, saying the first thing that came into her mind.

"_What are _you _doing in church_?" her mother scoffed.

"Praying!" Donna hissed angrily down the phone, feeling offended for some reason she couldn't name.

"_Bit late for that, madam_." Donna's mother said with amusement. Donna could hear her mother say something to someone else in the room, then speak into the phone once more. "_But I need the car, I'm going out with Suzette_. _She's asked all the Wednesday Girls. Apparently she's been on those Adipose pills, she says she looks marvelous._"

Donna was about to reply, but a large crash made her jump. Her heart lodged itself in her throat and she nearly dropped the phone to the floor. Her eyes roved about wildly, searching for the source of the noise in the small stall, even thought she knew it was pointless. She wasn't going to see anything from in here, anyway, so why bother? She couldn't help it though, it was instinct.

"We know you're in here! So why don't you make this nice and easy and show yourself?" the chillingly familiar voice of Miss Foster called out from the front of the woman's bathroom.

Donna's jaw dropped and she pulled her feet up off the floor, sitting cross-legged on the toilet seat. The phone came away from her ear as she wrapped her arms around her knees to keep her feet off of the floor. It wouldn't do for Miss Foster to find her here, not at all. She had the worrying thought that the business mogul could hear her heart thudding wildly in her chest from miles away.

"I'm waiting." Miss Foster announced with false cheer. "I warn you, I'm not a patient woman. Now, out you come." Silence greeted her words. "Right. We'll do it the hard way. Get her."

Another loud bang filled the room, this time closer. Donna jumped, barely managing to keep quiet. She had guards and they were systematically kicking down the stall doors. Donna's breathing increased and her heart pounded even quicker than before. This was it. They were going to find her and arrest her for industrial espionage and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. Another stall door went down with a crash. And another. And another. And another. Donna flinched the closer they got to her own stall. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed hard that she would get out of this, some how.

As the door right before hers was kicked in, Donna ducked her head down, knowing this was the end. Strangely, however, it went quiet. She frowned and lifted her head, feeling relieved, confused and worried all at once.

"There you are." Miss Foster said, sounding superior.

Donna listened intently to the sound of the guards dragging someone out of the stall next to hers.

"I've been through your records, Foster, and all of your results have been faked!" the familiar voice of Penny Carter, science correspondent declared. "There's something about those pills that you're not telling us."

"Oh, I think I'll be conducting this interview, Penny." Miss Foster replied, her voice deadly calm and filled with an implied threat Donna never wanted to hear again.

The guards led Penny out of the bathroom and the door slammed shut behind all of them. Donna let out a relieved sigh and slowly stood, marveling at her own good luck and feeling sorry for Penny at the same time. Now, all she had to do was find the evidence Penny had mentioned and get out of there without getting caught. Easier said than done.

RSI

The Doctor and Cale stepped out onto the roof through the Plant Room door, both of them admiring the view and checking the area for guards. Cale felt his jaw hit the floor as he stared out at the London skyline. It was beautiful at night. He swallowed hard and followed after the Doctor, who was making his way to a small steel ladder. Cale frowned. He wouldn't trust that thing as far as he could throw it. 21st century tech made him so nervous; he couldn't understand how the Doctor could trust it at all. Then again, maybe the Doctor didn't trust it; maybe he just used it anyway.

"Er…what's that thing?" Cale asked as they approached the ladder.

"Cleaning lift." the Doctor answered shortly, already climbing the ladder. "The window cleaners use it to squeegee the windows on the outside."

"They do _what_?" Cale's voice rose an octave at the end and he stepped away from the ladder. "The _hell_ I'm gettin' on that thing! You go ahead; I'll snoop around down stairs with my feet firmly planted on solid ground, thank you very much."

"Fine, have it your way, then." the Doctor said with a shrug. He climbed into the lift and pulled his sonic-screwdriver from the inside pocket of his jacket. "Don't get into any trouble while I'm gone. We'll meet back at the janitor's closet in thirty minutes, alright?"

"Yeah, sure, no problem." Cale said with a nod. He still looked nervous. "Are you sure you wanna trust that thing? I don't."

"It's perfectly safe, Cale." the Doctor told him with a comforting smile. "21st century humans are obsessed with safety. Relax."

With that, the Doctor pressed the down button on the lift and left Cale to stand there and watch with his heart in his throat. Cale stood there and looked on until the Doctor had completely disappeared from view before turning around and walking back the way he had come. He opened the Plant Room door and stepped inside, shutting it softly behind himself. Letting out a small sigh, he made for the stairs, intending on finding the records floor and possibly the operation controls of the transmitter. He needed to turn it off before anyone was hurt by whatever it was the transmitter was calling to itself.

* * *

Here it is, I know it's short, but I had to break it up this way, otherwise the flow of the story would've been all wonky. Anyway, review!


	5. Of Mops and Stairs

Okay, here's chappie number five. Enjoy and review!

* * *

RSI

The Doctor watched the floors pass by; looking in each of the windows to make sure he didn't accidentally pass Miss Foster's office. That's where he wanted to be at the moment, anyway. Who knew where he would go next, but that seemed like the logical starting point, was in fact. He spotted Foster's office and hit the stop button on the lift, bringing it level with the windows. He only had a few seconds to peer inside before the door was dramatically flung open and he ducked down low in the lift bucket.

He could faintly hear voices inside and hurriedly pulled a stethoscope from his innner jacket pocket. He put the ear buds in his ears and pressed the metal end to the wall, hoping to pick up enough of the sound vibrations in the wall to understand what was being said inside the office. He took in a deep breath and waited.

"This is ridiculous!" he heard a muffled, yet strangely familiar voice, say. A door slammed shut.

"Sit there." That voice he knew. It was Miss Foster's.

"I'm phoning my editor." the other voice said, sounding distinctly annoyed.

"I said sit." Foster repeated sternly.

"You can't tie me up!" Penny protested indignantly. "What sort of a country do you think this is?"

"Oh, it's a beautifully fat country." Miss Foster said, sounding far too pleased with herself. "And believe me; I've traveled along way to find a beastie on this scale.

"So come on then, Miss Foster. Those pills, what are they?" Penny demanded, not cowed in the least for being tied up. The Doctor felt and irrational surge of pride for the human race at that.

"Well, you might as well have a scoop as you'll never see it printed." Miss Foster said just as the Doctor moved the metal end of his stethoscope onto the window. He wasn't getting enough sound from the wall.

"This," Miss Foster said as she held up a small red and white pill between her thumb and forefinger, "is the spark of life."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Penny once again demanded. She had fire; the Doctor would give her that.

"Officially, the capsule attracts all of the fat cells and flushes them away. Well, it certainly attracts them, that part's true." Foster said as if she was relating yesterday's news. "But it binds the fat together and galvanizes it to form a body."

"What do you mean? A body?" Penny inquired, very confused.

"Oh, I am surprised you never asked about my name, I chose it well." Foster said, completely jumping tracks. She leaned forward in her chair. "Foster. As in, Foster Mother."

The Doctor frowned, starting to get distinctly worried.

"And these," Foster reached into a desk drawer and removed a small, cooing marshmallow being, "are my children."

"Are you kidding me?" Penny exclaimed as the Doctor slowly stood up to get a look at just exactly what Foster had showed her. "I don't—what the hell is that?"

"Adipose." Foster said, getting up from her chair and walking around her desk. The Doctor slipped the stethoscope off of his neck and watched the goings on with interest. "It's called an Adipose. Made out of living fat."

"Well, I-I-I don't understand." That was the last the Doctor even heard as his attention was suddenly drawn by a familiar face in the circular window of the office door.

If it were possible, he would have dropped dead of shock. Donna Noble was staring across the room at him, her jaw dropped, looking just as shocked as he was.

"Donna?" he said, exaggerating his mouth movements so she could understand him.

"Doctor!" she mouthed back so he could understand. She looked extremely happy and shocked all at once.

"B-b-but wh-what are you _doing_ here?" he said, too stunned to formulate a theory.

"Oh! My! God!" he saw her mouth. He was getting really, really, really worried now. She shouldn't be here. At all.

"How?" he gasped, unable to think of anything else to say. His mind was still numb from the shock of seeing her.

"It's me!" she said, pointing to her face.

The Doctor nodded, mouthing the words, "I can see that!" and pointing at his eyes for emphasis. This was rapidly descending into completely bizarre.

"Oh, this is brilliant!" she mouthed, waving her hands up and down in a frantic thumbs up.

"What the _hell_ are you doing there?" the Doctor demanded soundlessly, pointing at her for emphasis.

"I was looking for you!" she told him silently, adding in hand motions for clarification.

The Doctor pointed to himself. "Me? What for?"

"I was reading on the internet." Donna mimed reading and using a computer. The Doctor nodded, but everything she said after that he couldn't understand. Even the TARDIS was clueless. Then suddenly she said, "And you!" then she stopped with her tongue between her teeth and her thumb pointing in the air. She looked down right worried.

The Doctor glanced over to where she was looking and frowned. Miss Foster had noticed their bizarre conversation. He honestly couldn't blame her for it, either, they were being rather obvious.

"Are we interrupting you?" Miss Foster said smartly, hands folded in front of her.

The Doctor jerked his head sideways, reached into his pocket for his sonic-screwdriver and shouted, "Run!"

"Get her!" Foster commanded, pointing at Donna. The Doctor locked the door from across the room with his sonic-screwdriver. Foster motioned towards him. "And him."

Donna ran.

The Doctor activated the lift with his sonic-screwdriver and was rapidly pulled out of sight. He jumped out of the lift as soon as he was able, skipping several rungs on the ladder, then jumping to the floor. He sprinted to the plant room door, all while praying that nothing happened to Donna or Cale. He'd never forgive himself for it if something did. It was always moments like these that he regretted bringing his companions along to join in the fun. Although, to be fair, he didn't really invite Donna along. She just sort of showed up.

Gunfire echoed throughout the building and the Doctor felt his hearts leap into his throat. He put on an extra burst of speed, jumping down several steps and onto the solid floor. He practically flew down another flight before grabbing the railing and skidding to a stop before he slammed headlong into Donna. He stood there staring for a long moment before she pulled him into a strong hug.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed, pulling back, her voice was painfully high-pitched. "I don't believe it! You've even got the same suit! Don't you ever change?"

"Yeah, thanks Donna. Not right now." the Doctor said. He heard a noise and looked down the flights of stairs to see two armed guards making their way up towards them. Time to go. He grabbed Donna's arm and pulled her back up the stairs. "Just like old times!"

They sprinted back up to the roof floor and burst out of the plant room door, Donna talking a mile a minute as they went. She was panting for breath, but apparently even that couldn't stop her from saying what was on her mind. For one brief, wild second, the Doctor wondered what would.

"'Cause I thought, 'How do you find the Doctor?' and then I just thought, 'Look for trouble and then he'll turn up.' So, I looked every where." Donna said as they sprinted up the ladder to the window washing lift. "You name it. UFOs, sightings, crop circles, sea monsters, I looked for it. I found them all! Then I read that sight about the bees disappearing and I thought, 'I bet you he's connected!'. 'Cause the thing is, Doctor, I believe it all now. You opened my eyes. All those amazing things out there, I believe them all."

The Doctor listened with half an ear as he jury-rigged the lift systems with his sonic-screwdriver to the best of his abilities in the shortest time possible.

"Well, apart from that record of the Titanic flying over Buckingham palace on Christmas Day. I mean, that has gotta be a hoax." Donna said smartly, barely pausing to take a breath.

"What do you mean the bees are disappearing?" the Doctor asked as he pushed to his feet, tucking his sonic-screwdriver safely away in his coat pocket.

"I dunno." Donna told him as they both climbed the ladder. "That's what it says on the internet. On the same sight there was all these conspiracy theories about Adipose Industries and I thought, 'Let's take a look!'"

"Get in!" the Doctor shouted from inside of the lift bucket.

"What, in that thing?" Donna said, pointing dramatically at the rickety looking bucket.

"Yes, in that thing!" the Doctor exclaimed. That was twice someone had declined to follow him in the space of ten minutes now. Which, reminded him, he needed to go find Cale, and fast. Who knew what sort of trouble the boy had found by now.

"But if we go down in that they'll just call us back up again!" Donna reasoned, gesturing wildly with her arms.

"No, no, no. 'Cause I locked the controls to the sonic-cage. I'm the only one who can control it." the Doctor said as Donna climbed the ladder and stepped into the bucket. "Not unless she's got a sonic device of her own, which is very unlikely!"

"Right, let's go then!" Donna exclaimed grabbing the edge of the bucket for balance. She could dimly hear the roof access door slamming open as the lift made it's decent.

They were about three floors down when the cable on the right side suddenly snapped with a shower of sparks. Donna and the Doctor shouted in surprise as the lift began to fall uncontrolled towards the ground at an alarming clip. Donna could hear the wind roar past her ears and thought with wild fright that her mother would be able to take her home in a Ziploc bag at this rate. She screamed even louder at the thought.

The Doctor frantically reached for his sonic-screwdriver and pointed it up at the cable pulley. The lift ground to a spectacular halt that jarred his back teeth with the impact. That was gonna leave him a headache for a few hours. He heard Donna shriek again as they both wound up on the floor of the little bucket. He was never doing this again with anyone so long as he lived, which would be a very, very, very long time. He hoped, anyway.

"Oh, ow! Ah." the Doctor groaned as he pulled himself upright. Donna followed and he pointed his sonic device at the window. "Hold on, we can get in through the window!" he heard a strange suction sound and felt a heavy feeling of dread settle in his guts. "I can't get it open!"

Donna bent down and retrieved a rather large wrench from the floor of the bucket. She began to bang harshly at the glass. "We smash it, then!"

The Doctor joined her, banging his forearm and elbow along the window frame. The glass buckled and bowed, but nothing seemed to be happening beyond that. They banged at it with all of their combined strength for about thirty seconds before Donna suddenly stopped and looked up. She wished she hadn't. The right cable had a disturbing green light and sparks coming from it. Her eyes went wide.

"She's cutting the cable!" Donna exclaimed worriedly.

The Doctor stopped his banging and looked up just in time to see the cable snap. His eyes rounded as the left side of the bucket titled towards the ground.

"Donna!" he exclaimed as the woman fell out of the lift. He watched in horror as she managed to stop herself from plummeting to the ground by grabbing onto the cable.

"Doctor!" she screamed back, voice shrill and full of fright.

The Doctor sprung forward and grabbed a hold of the cable, looking over the edge of the bucket and down at Donna. "Hold on!"

"I am!" she shouted angrily back, glaring at him from twenty feet down. "Doctor! Do something!"

The Doctor strained his muscles, trying desperately to haul her up, but he just wasn't strong enough. The weight of the cable and Donna was too much for him to try and lift. Making a snap decision, he let go of the cable and moved towards the other side of the car, pulling himself up as best he could. He extended his hand with the sonic-screwdriver and pointed it up, directly at Miss Foster's hand.

He pressed the on button.

Foster yelled and involuntarily released her grip on her sonic-pen. It fell down the side of the building and into the Doctor's waiting hand. He grabbed it, put the pen between his teeth, then began to climb the still connected right steel cable up towards the window. He pulled himself up level with it and removed the pen from his mouth. As he set about opening the window, he could hear Donna shouting from below.

"Help me, I'll fall!" she was quiet for a moment before she said, "This is all your fault! I should have stayed at home!"

"I won't be a minute!" he shouted back down to her over the roar of the wind as he opened the window and climbed in. He rolled over the windowsill and fell to the floor with an ungraceful and painful thud. "Ow."

Standing up, he shook himself like a wet dog before bolting towards the stairwell. He had to get down to Foster's office and pull Donna in from the outside. He slammed open the stairwell door and it bounced off the wall with an ear splitting crash. He paid it no mind. He sprinted down the stairs, taking three and four at a time before he found the correct floor. Skidding to a stop he nearly ran headlong into the door before he could reach out and yank it violently open.

He flew across the floor, through Miss Foster's office, past Penny Carter and straight to the window where he could see Donna's feet dangling in mid air. He pulled Miss Foster's sonic-pen from his pocket just as Penny said, "Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?"

"Aren't you a journalist?" the Doctor said snappishly, slightly out of breath from his mad dash down the stairs.

"Yes." Penny confirmed exasperatedly.

"Well, make it up!" the Doctor suggested almost hysterically as he finally managed to force the window open. He grabbed at Donna's legs, wrapping his arms around them. She started to kick wildly. "I've got you! I've got you! Ah! Stop it!"

"Lemme go! Lemme go!" Donna shrieked from above.

"It's me, Donna! Stop kicking!" the Doctor shouted desperately, face pressed sideways against the glass.

"Doctor?" Donna screamed.

"Yes!" he shouted back. She suddenly stopped kicking, much to his relief.

After much finagling and copious use of Gallifreyian reflexes, the Doctor managed to manhandle Donna safely inside the building. He grabbed her and pulled her into a quick hug. She pushed back, glaring at him and tugging on the hem of her suit jacket.

"I was right." she said out of breath. "It's always like this with you, isn't it?"

"Oh, yes!" the Doctor told her with a manic grin and an almost insane light in his eyes. He started to run towards the door. "And off we go!"

Donna sprinted off after him. Just as they had left the room they heard Penny shout indignantly after them, "Oi!"

The Doctor's upper body appeared around the door and he pointed Miss Foster's sonic-pen at Penny's bonds. "Sorry!" they snapped and he ducked back around the door, only to appear again. "Now, do yourself a favor, get out."

With that, he was gone once more, leaving a shocked Penny Carter in his wake. He and Donna bolted out of Miss Foster's office and out into the main sales bull pen. They tore around a corner row of cubicles and into an isle way only to skid to a stop when they encountered Miss Foster walking towards them, two arms guards flanking her. The Doctor threw his hands out on either side of him, hoping to keep Donna behind himself. He stopped and straightened, staring Miss Foster down.

It was absolute silence for a few moments. That was, until Cale came barreling in from a side stairwell.

"Oh, shit!" he exclaimed when he spotted the guards and their guns. Everyone turned to look at him. He gulped.

"Oh, for the love of—Cale!" the Doctor shouted, frowning at the boy down the side isle. "You couldn't have stayed away! No, you had to come barging in here at this _exact_ moment!"

"Sorry!" Cale exclaimed as he made his way over to Donna and the Doctor. "Hey!" he exclaimed indignantly as the Time Lord yanked Cale behind him.

"Well then," Miss Foster said, taking off her glasses, "at last."

"Hello." Donna greeted, lamely waving her hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor." the Doctor said, leaning his upper body forward.

"Cale." Cale said with a nervous twitch of his lips. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and regarded Miss Foster from behind the Doctor and Donna.

"And I'm Donna." Donna added, answering the question Cale was about to ask.

"Partners in crime." Miss Foster said. She gave Cale a cursory look. "With a get away driver. And, evidently off-worlders judging by your sonic technology."

"Oh, yes!" the Doctor exclaimed as he rapidly patted down his front pockets. He pulled out Miss Foster's sonic-pen. "I've still got your sonic-pen. Nice! I like it! It's kinda sleek." He showed it to Donna.

"Oh, it's definitely sleek." she agreed.

"Yeah, totally modern." Cale agreed, peering at it over the Doctor's hand.

"Yeah, and if you were to sign your real name, that would be?" the Doctor asked, waiving the sonic-pen in front of his face.

"Matron Kefedria of the Five Straight Clasabindrian Nursery Fleet. Intergalactic class." she told them, eyes cold and calculating and voice deceptively mild.

"A wet nurse. Using humans as surrogates." the Doctor guessed, tone of voice suggesting he had worked out her entire plan in that exact moment.

"I know you!" Cale exclaimed. At the strange looks he was getting, he went on to explain. "Well, not you, but I've heard of you."

"I've been employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation after their breeding planet was lost." She told them proudly, still obviously waiting for a moment in which to kill them.

"Oh, heard about that." Cale said with a sympathetic wince. "Poor buggers."

"What do you mean lost?" the Doctor asked, confusion marring his features. "How do you lose a planet?"

"Oh, the politics are none of my concern; I'm just here to take care of the children on behalf of the parents." she told them, completely unaffected by the strange circumstances which had placed her on planet Earth in the first place.

"What, like an outer-space super nanny?" Donna scoffed, not believing her ears and just now getting her breath back.

"Yes, if you'd like." Matron Kefedria agreed cordially.

"So, those little things, they're—they're made out of fat?" Donna asked, miming the shape of the strange little marshmallow creatures with her hands. "Yeah, but that woman, Stacy Campbell, there was nothing left of her."

"What creatures?" Cale interrupted, completely lost.

"Long story, tell you later." the Doctor told him shortly.

"Oh, in a crisis, the Adipose can convert bone and hair and internal organs." Foster said casually. "Makes them a little bit sick, poor things."

"Oh, that's just gross!" Cale exclaimed just as Donna said, "But what about poor Stacy?"

"Seeding a level five planet is against galactic law." the Doctor informed her solemnly, eyes hard as stones.

"Are you threatening me?" Miss Foster said slowly, taking a small step forward.

"I'm trying to help you, Matron." the Doctor told her, voice hard. "This is your one chance. 'Cause if you don't call this off, then I'll have to stop you."

"I hardly think you can stop bullets." Matron Kefedria said as calmly as you please.

The guards stepped forward and armed their guns, taking aim at Cale, Donna and the Doctor.

"No, hold on, hold on, hold on!" the Doctor exclaimed, hands going out to the sides as if to block Cale and Donna from the hail of bullets that would be soon arriving. "One more thing before—dying." he reached into his coat pocket and retrieved his sonic-screw driver. "Do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?"

"Yeah." Cale piped up from behind.

"I wasn't asking you." the Doctor scolded tersely under his breath.

"No." Foster said after a brief pause. She seemed almost fed up with the three of them.

"Nor me!" the Doctor said with a disturbing amount of cheer. He put the two of them together and pressed the on buttons. "Let's find out!"

A loud buzzing sound filled the room, making everyone but the Doctor bend over at the waist and clutch at their ears. Cale grit his teeth against the noise. It wasn't as bad as the last time this had happened to him, but it still hurt like a bitch. He looked up at the Doctor, who was standing with his feet shoulder width apart and resolutely holding the two slim and sleek sonic devices at each other. Cale could hear Donna and himself screaming, trying to block the sound waves from damaging their ears.

The glass next to them suddenly shattered, the Doctor having found the frequency at which it resonated. That seemed to spur Donna into action. She shoved at the Doctor's arms, making him release his grip on the sonic devices' power buttons. Cale let go of his ears just as Donna reached down and grabbed his arm.

"Come on!" she shouted as she sprinted for the door, dragging Cale. The Doctor wasn't far behind, dashing after them so he didn't get left behind or shot.

They barreled through the glass double doors and towards the same stairway Donna and the Doctor had arrived through. Cale pulled ahead of both of them, jumping down half a flight of stairs and onto the level floor between that flight and the next one. He looked up at the Doctor and Donna, eyes wide and full of fear.

"Now what?" he demanded as they started down another set of stairs.

"Janitor's closet!" the Doctor instructed, chest heaving from running.

"Why the hell do you want to go to the janitor's closet?" Donna yelled, short of breath as she had to work harder than ever before to keep up with the Doctor and Cale.

"Her transmitter is in there!" Cale shouted back, leaping down another half-flight of stairs. "If we can get to it, then we can turn it off!"

"Exactly!" the Doctor supported, twisting around the stair rail and towards the basement door. "This way!"

He shoved it open and tore down the concrete hallway, Cale and Donna chasing at his heels. They flew around several corners, Cale slipping and nearly running straight into a wall. They darted down another long hallway before the Doctor skidded to a stop. Cale narrowly avoided smacking into his back for what seemed like the millionth time in the past two days. It was starting to become a habit, he realized wildly.

The Doctor yanked open the closet door, stepped inside, then started hurling cleaning supplies out into the hallway. Donna jumped back just in time as a rusted metal ladder came flying her way. Cale wasn't so lucky. He yelped in shock as the wooden handle of a mop smacked him hard in the middle of his forehead. He glared daggers at the Doctor, eyes positively radiating blue fire.

"You hit me in the head! You hit me in the _friggin'_ head with a _friggin'_ mop!" Cale's voice was dangerously close to a scream.

"Sorry!" the Doctor shouted back, voice muffled from being inside the closet.

"Well, that's one solution, hide in a cupboard." Donna said sarcastically. "I like it."

"I've been locked in with this thing all day!" the Doctor said so quickly that his words were barely understandable. He pushed in on the wall and it moved away to reveal a mass of glowing green wires and machinery. "The Matron's got a computer core running through the center of the building. Triple dead-locked!" he pulled the sonic-pen from his pocket. "But now that I've got this, I can get into it."

"Oh, very nice!" Cale exclaimed, crowding into the cupboard next to the Doctor and Donna. He frowned at the computer. "Is it me, or does that look disturbingly like a human ribcage?"

"Yeah, it kinda does, actually." Donna agreed, giving Cale a strange look. "Who are you again?"

"Cale," he answered her with a smile. "You?"

"Donna Noble." Donna replied, briefly shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Cale said. He paused, "I think."

"You think?" Donna demanded, voice going rough. "What do you mean, you think?"

"She's wired up the whole building!" the Doctor interrupted them from his crouched position in front of the transmitter.

He grunted as he yanked out some wires; they came lose with a crackling sound. He pulled the ends off two, exposing the copper cores. He pressed them together and electricity shot out, making a sizzling sound. "We need a bit of privacy!"

Cale heard two guards grunt then fall down about a hundred yards from the door. "Great timin'! If I tried to do that, the whole thing would've exploded."

"Good thing you didn't try, then." Donna sniped, still smarting over Cale's earlier comment.

"Just enough to stop them." the Doctor said. He stood up and gave the machine a once over. "Why's she wired up a tower block? What's it all for?"

He crouched back down again and yanked out more wires, handing a thick one to Donna and setting to work on a skinny one with the sonic-pen, Adipose Industries free gift clutched tightly in his other hand. He set to work wiring up the inside of the machine as Cale watched the door and him, trying to do both at the same time. It was difficult.

He gave up watching the Doctor after a few seconds; more intent on making sure no one barged in on them unannounced. That wouldn't go down well with the management at all.

"You look older." Cale heard Donna say after a few moments of quiet.

"Thanks," the Doctor replied distractedly.

"Can see you're not on your own anymore." Donna observed quietly, not wanting to draw anymore of Cale's attention than she already had.

"Yup," the Doctor said, intent on his mission to rewire the machine.

"He been with you since my wedding?" Donna asked curiously.

"Oh, no," the Doctor answered, "No, I only met him last week. I had this friend Martha, she was called, Martha Jones. She was brilliant." he paused, working quickly with some wires. "And I…destroyed half her life. But she's fine, she's good." he paused, longer this time. "She's gone."

"What 'bout Rose?" Donna asked, shocking Cale enough to make him whip his head around and stare at her wide-eyed. The one time he'd tried to get the Doctor to talk about Rose had ended in the Time Lord nearly shouting at him.

"Still lost." the Doctor said quietly, turning his head briefly to look at Donna. He frowned. "Thought you were gonna travel the world?"

"Easier said than done." Donna told him with a sad smile. "It's like I had that one day with you and oh, I was gonna change. I was gonna do so much."

The Doctor crouched down and reworked something else in the machine, still listening intently to Donna. Cale turned back to the hallway, not wanting to eavesdrop, but not really having much of a choice. He'd learned something new, anyway. The Doctor had lost Rose. He didn't know how, or when, or why, only that the Doctor had.

"Then I woke up the next morning, same old life." Donna continued with a sigh. "It's like you were never there. And I tried, I did try. I went to Egypt." she laughed. "I was gonna go barefoot and everything. And then it's all bus trips and guide books and don't drink the water and two weeks later you're back at home." the Doctor stood up and took a wire from Donna. "It's nothing like being with you. I must have been mad, turnin' down that offer."

"What offer?" the Doctor asked distractedly, once more bent over the transmitter.

"To come with you." Donna answered him.

He stood up right and stared at her open mouth just as Cale whipped around once again to do the same. He could hardly believe what he had just heard. "To come with me?"

"Oh, yes, please!" Donna said eagerly; hope shining from her bright green eyes.

"Right," the Doctor said in a strange state of shock. He didn't say much else as the transmitter made a strange beeping noise and a computer filtered voice began to speak.

"Inducer activated."

"What's it doing now?" Donna's face plainly displayed her worry.

"Aw man! I know that sound." Cale bemoaned, hurrying over to join them. "That's the hurry-up-and-fix-it-before-we-all-die sound."

"Oh, what a pleasant thought." Donna growled at him, daring Cale to say anything else. He wisely kept silent.

"She's started the program!" Even the Doctor sounded worried now.

"Inducer transmitting." the computer generated voice cheerlessly told them.

"So far they've just been loosing weight!" the Doctor said quickly, crouched down in front of the machine and frantically attaching and disconnecting wires. He seemed really worried now. "But the Matron's gone up to emergency parthenogenesis!"

"And that's when they convert?" Donna surmised, looking concerned.

"Convert?" Cale gasped, eyes going wide. "You mean, they eat people?"

"Skeletons, organs, everything!" the Doctor shouted, eyes wild and breathing quick. "A million people are going to die!" He suddenly stood up and removed the golden pill from his pocket. He twisted the top off. "I gotta cancel the signal. This contains a priming signal. If I can switch it off, the fat goes back to being just fat!"

He moved hurried, desperately, almost dropping the small pill as he wired the end into the main transmitter system. This had to work, there was no other options.

Suddenly, the computer began to speak again. "Inducer increasing."

"Shit!" Cale cursed, desperate and angry along with the Doctor. A million people couldn't just die, they couldn't!

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" the Doctor growled at the machine. His left hand went into his hair. "She's doubled it! I need—I don't have enough time. It's too far. I can't override it!" he leaned forward, resting both hands on either side of the transmitter. "They're all gonna die!"

"The _hell_ they are!" Cale nearly screamed, desperation clawing ravenously at his insides.

"Is there anything I can do?" Donna asked carefully, wanting more than anything to help.

"Sorry, Donna, this is way beyond you!" the Doctor said as he reached up and starting flipping and turning every switch he could get his hands on. "I gotta double the base pulse, I can't--"

"Doctor, tell me," Donna said slowly, fighting to keep her voice level, "what do you need?"

"I need a second capsule to boost the override, but I've only got the one!" the Doctor exclaimed in panic. His hands were gesturing wildly and his hair was flopping every-which way as he spoke. "I can't save them!"

He went back to manically flipping switches and Cale watched on in detached horror until movement from Donna caught his eye. He frowned at her as she pulled a gold pill dangling from a gold chain from her pocket. Cale felt his face split into an involuntary grin. She'd done it. By god, she'd done it!

The Doctor paused in his frantic movements, noticing Donna out of the corners of his eyes as well. He frowned, starring at her like she'd grown a second head for a moment, before a blinding grin split his face. He snatched the capsule out of her hands, twisted the top off, bent the wire, then rapidly hooked it into the inducer with a flourish. He stepped back and suddenly, the obnoxious beeping wail and the lights on the machine ceased. Cale let out a breath and slumped back against the cold, unforgiving concrete wall.

Disaster averted.

"Ha ha! Yes!" the Doctor exclaimed jovially, slapping his hand on the wall beside the machine. He stepped back, triumphant grin on his face.

"Oh, thank god!" Donna breathed, relaxing back against the wall as well.

"Great, so does that mean we can--" a strange crackling, buzzing noise cut over Cale's words causing the trio to look up at the ceiling in confusion.

"What the hell is that?" Donna asked, worry coming back in full force.

"Sounds like a ship." Cale observed, not nearly as worried.

"When you said nursery, you didn't mean Nottingham, did you?" Donna asked, suddenly understanding.

"Nursery ship." the Doctor confirmed.

"Mommy and Daddy have arrived." Cale surmised, eyes fixed on the ceiling. "Probably a D class Intergalactic Stalag ship. H-drive engines capable of crossing a whole galactic quadrant in just two weeks."

"Incoming signal." The Inducer's light suddenly flared, and little alien letters scrolled across the blue screen in the middle. An alien dialect issued forth from it, one Cale had never heard before.

The Doctor leaned forward to look at it, only mildly worried.

"Well, can't we get up there and stop 'em?" Donna asked, breath coming in short pants.

"Sh, hold on, hold on." the Doctor said, holding up his finger in the universal signal of 'be quiet'. "Instructions from the Adiposian First Family."

"What do they say?" Cale asked, peering over the Doctor's shoulder at the screen.

"She's wired the entire tower block and converted it into a levitation field." the Doctor answered. His eyebrows climbed to his hairline. "Oh, we're not the ones in trouble now," he paused to listen for a moment, "she is!"

He dashed for the door, yanking it open again. "C'mon! We have to stop her!"

Cale rolled his eyes and followed the Doctor and Donna's mad dash down the concrete hallways. "Remind me, why?"

"Because, she doesn't deserve to die!" the Doctor shouted over his shoulder.

"Oh, of course not!" Donna grouched.

* * *

Okay, end of chapter five. Lemme know what y'all think!


	6. El Fin! Sort of

Yes, I realize it's four am in the morning. I don't care, I'm awake. Here's the last chapter, enjoy!

* * *

RSI

They burst out onto the roof to the most impossible sight Cale had witnessed that week, and that was saying a lot. He walked behind the Doctor and Donna, jaw dropped and staring wide-eyed at the spectacle in front of him. Clouds of cold air came from his mouth as he breathed, trying to catch his breath. There, floating above London in a blue levitation field, were what looked like ten thousand six inch marshmallows with hands, feet and one tooth.

Cale could hardly believe his eyes.

"Holy hell!" He exclaimed, rushing up to the Doctor and Donna. "There's ten thousand tiny marshmallow people floatin' above London! Huh."

"What're ya gonna do, then," Donna started, sounding oddly resigned, "blow 'em up?"

"Say what?" Cale demanded, looking from Donna to the Doctor, then back again.

"They're just children, they can't help where they came from." the Doctor told her, almost sounding insulted that she would think he would kill them.

"Oh, well that makes a change from last time." Donna said, sounding relieved, if not a little impressed. "That Martha must've done you good."

"Yeah, she did, yeah." the Doctor acknowledged with a brief nod. He glanced back up at all of the floating baby Adipose. "Yeah, she did." He sniffed in a breath. "She fancied me."

"Mad Martha, that one." Donna said, sounding highly amused. "Blind Martha, Charity Martha." Donna smiled, watching the little Adipose float away home. She waved along with the Doctor and Cale. "I'm waiving at fat."

"Actually, as a diet plan, it sorta works." the Doctor mused, dropping his hand and stuffing it in his pocket.

"Yeah, it kinda does, doesn't it?" Cale agreed with a shrug. "And, of all the things to wave goodbye to, fat seems as good as any, if not better. Super models eat your hearts out."

"There she is!" the Doctor exclaimed, pointing at the calmly floating figure of Matron Kefedria. He sprinted over to the edge of the roof, intending to talk sense into her. "Matron Kefedria, listen to me!"

"Oh, I don't think so, Doctor." She told him calmly, her voice carrying a strange sort of echo. "And if I never see you again, it will be too soon."

"Oh, why does no one ever listen?" the Doctor growled in frustration. He stretched out his hand, motioning for Miss Foster to come over to him. "I'm trying to help! Just get across to the roof! Can you shift the levitation beam?"

"What? So that you can arrest me?" the Matron asked coldly, completely distrustful of the Doctor.

"Just listen! I saw the Adiposian instructions; they know it's a crime, breeding on Earth. So what's the one thing they want to get rid off? Their accomplice!" the Doctor insisted, begging Foster to see reason.

"Oh, I'm far more than that." Kefedria told them proudly. "I'm nanny," she gestured grandly with her arms, "to all these children!"

"Exactly!" the Doctor exclaimed, latching on to that fact. "Mom and Dad have got the kids now; they don't need the nanny anymore!"

Just as he finished speaking, the blue light around Miss Foster disappeared. Her blue eyes went round with shock as she looked at the ground, then the Doctor, then the ground, then the Doctor again before plummeting towards the ground with a desperate wail resembling that of a banshee. Donna gasped, and turning her head, hiding it in the Doctor's shoulder. He put his arm around her and pulled her close, offering all of the comfort he could muster at that moment.

Cale just watched with a blank face, walking up to the edge of the roof and leaning over just in time to see Matron Kefedria splatter on the sidewalk. Torchwood would be there within the hour, bearing enough retcon to make the entire city of London believe they were six year old girls with pink dresses and pig tails. Cale could honestly say he didn't mind at that exact moment in time. He swallowed harshly, eyes fixed on the small mass of black and red that was now Miss Foster. He couldn't say it was a great loss that she died. She'd tried to kill a million people.

Cale couldn't find it within himself to feel any sort of sympathy for her at all.

He watched as the ship flew away, taking all of the baby Adipose with it. He wasn't sure what he thought about that, either.

RSI

This last trip down the stairs had been far more enjoyable for all of them than the previous five times. It didn't involve running for their very short—or in one case rather considerable— lives. It made a nice change, the Doctor decided as he walked down the busy street. Sirens were wailing and the police were out en masse, as they should be, he was sure. He pulled the black sonic-pen from his pocket and looked around for a bin. He spotted one and made a beeline for it, dropping the sleek device inside with out so much as a "by your leave".

"Aw, that's a waste," Cale commented. He looked over at the Doctor. "I could've used that."

"Oi, you three!" a familiar voice shouted from behind them.

The Doctor regarded Penny Carter with something akin to amusement and shock, Cale was just confused.

"You're just mad! You here me? Mad!" she exclaimed angrily. Cale felt the words lost their impact as Ms. Carter had a chair tied to her and was holding it tightly to her bottom. "And I'm going to report you for—madness!"

With those last parting words, she toddled off towards a police car, obviously looking for someone to untie her. Cale just grinned, finding the entire situation immensely funny. "That's a laugh. We're mad and she's runnin' around with a chair strapped to her ass? Huh."

"Yeah, does seem a bit odd, doesn't it?" the Doctor absently agreed, watching her run off with a strange morbid fascination.

"Some people just can't take it." Donna observed voice full of pity.

"Nope," the Doctor agreed.

"And some people can." Donna went on to say. She smiled over at the Doctor, looking suddenly excited. She grabbed his wrist. "So then, TARDIS?" She gave his arm a good yank. "Come on!"

"Oi!" Cale exclaimed, chasing after the stumbling Doctor and tugging Donna. "Who invited you along?"

RSI

"That's my car!" Donna shouted in shock as they walked into the alley. Cale groaned loudly, as if in pain. "That is, like, destiny!"

"Oh, as if!" Cale scoffed. "There's no such thing."

"Like you would know!" Donna shot back, giving Cale a glare that made the boy clam up instantly, then glare daggers at Donna's back. She walked around to the trunk of her car. "And I've been ready for this. I packed ages ago, just in case, 'cause I thought," she began to systematically remove overstuffed suitcases from the impossibly small trunk of her car, "hot weather, cool weather, no weather! It goes anywhere!"

"Oh, you have _got_ to be kiddin' me!" Cale exclaimed, darting over to the car just as Donna dropped several suitcases into the Doctor's stunned arms. He looked from the trunk to the Doctor, to the trunk, then back to Donna. "You didn't seriously keep your _entire_ wardrobe in your car for, what, two years?"

"I most certainly did!" Donna exclaimed, seeming desperate and proud of herself all at once. She loaded another bag onto the growing pile in the Doctor's arms. "I've gotta be prepared!"

She put an octagon shaped box with blue stripes on top of the pile and finally the Doctor overcame his shock enough to speak. "You've got a-a hat box."

"Planet of the hats," Donna said with a grunt as she removed the last bag, "I'm ready!" She closed her trunk and turned to face the Doctor, a wide, happy grin on her face. She walked over to the TARDIS and stepped inside the door, causing Cale to narrow his eyes. "I don't need injections, do I? You know, like when you go to Cambodia, is there anything like that?"

"Cambodia?" Cale said with a frown. He grabbed a bag. "Never mind. What do you want me to do with this?"

"—cause my friend Rena went to Bahrain and she-" Suddenly, Donna stopped, finally noticing the solemn expression on the Doctor's face. She looked nervous now. "You're not sayin' much."

"No, it's just--" the Doctor paused, light purple bag under one arm and suitcase in his other hand. He sighed. "It's a funny old life. In the TARDIS. It's not-"

"You don't want me?" Donna seemed almost heartbroken in that very instant, and Cale suddenly couldn't be angry with her just barging in like she did.

"I'm not saying that," the Doctor said, an odd look on his face.

"But you asked me." Donna insisted, looking crestfallen. "Would you rather be on your own?"

"Hey, I'm here, hello!" Cale waved crazily at Donna, blue eyes glaring.

"Alright, so you've got a manic teenager for company, then." Donna acknowledged with an eye roll. "But, the thought still stands."

"No, I wouldn't rather be on my own." the Doctor finally replied, voice low but firm nonetheless. He dropped the bags and put his hands in his pockets. "But, the last time—with Marta—like I said it, it got complicated. And that was all my fault. I just want a mate."

Donna frowned, looking worried, if not a little disturbed. "You just want _to mate_?"

Cale broke down in hysterical laughter.

"I just want a mate!" the Doctor quickly corrected.

Donna let out an affronted gasp, and pulled the TARDIS door in front of herself. "You're not matin' with me, sunshine!"

Cale fell down on the floor, doubled over in laughter. He could barely breathe as he held his sides. "As if!"

"_A_ mate, I want _a_ mate!" the Doctor insisted, not meaning it the way Donna had obviously taken it.

"Well, it's just as well, 'cause I'm not having any of that nonsense, I mean you're just a," she gestured straight up and down with her hands, completely ignoring the teenager rolling on the floor in hysterics, " long streak of nothing. You know, _alien_ nothing!"

"Well, there we are then." the Doctor managed to only sound mildly offended at that. It set Cale off into fresh peals of laughter. The Doctor turned, glaring and pointing an angry finger at Cale. "And you! Cut that out, it's not funny!"

Cale sat up, trying in vain to stifle his laughter. He grinned widely, blue eyes alight with mischief. "Yes it is! She thought—and you said—and then she thought—ha! As if! You're more celibate than a nun!"

Donna laughed the sound tight and strained. She still wasn't sure if she was welcome, after all.

"Right. Okay then," the Doctor turned around to face Donna once again, hoping to hell he hadn't gone as red as a tomato. "Glad we understand each other."

"Does that mean I can come?" Donna asked hesitantly, not wanting to get her heart broken all over again.

"Course you can, yeah." the Doctor told her with a nod. He suddenly grinned, rocking side to side on the edges of his feet. "I'd love it."

"Do I have any say in this?" Cale suddenly butted in worriedly.

"Does it matter?" the Doctor turned around to frown at him, eyes narrowed.

"No, no it doesn't." Cale suddenly and rapidly changed his mind. He hated it when that disapproving look was directed at him. He'd do anything to keep it off the Doctor's face, including try his level best to get along with Donna.

Donna let out a happy noise and stepped forward to hug the Doctor, then suddenly stopped, a thought occurring to her. "Car keys!"

"What?" the Doctor asked confused. His smile was firmly lodged on his face, though.

"I've still got my mum's car keys!" Donna clarified voice high-pitched and squeaky from relief and excitement. She took off down the street. "I won't be a minute!"

The Doctor looked on as she ran, then looked down at the impressive pile of baggage at his feet. He looked at a loss as to what to do with it. Cale smirked, walked over, bent down, then picked up two bags. He smiled at the Doctor.

"C'mon, better get these inside before she gets back." Cale said, trying to sound pleased about it.

"That sounds like a plan, yeah." the Doctor agreed, still in a mild state of shock. He bent down and retrieved the other three bags, tucking one under his arm. He pushed open the TARDIS' door with his foot and stepped inside, setting the baggage down just to the left of the ramp.

Cale set his load down by the others, then walked back and closed the TARDIS door. He sighed, and looked over at the Doctor, trying to keep the pleading note out of his voice as he spoke. "I don't guess there's a chance of just nippin' out, is there?"

"No, of course not!" the Doctor exclaimed, glaring at Cale. He frowned, grabbing at his left ear. "What makes you ask that, anyway?"

"It's just--" Cale sighed again and ran his right hand through his hair. "Never mind. You're right. We should wait."

"No, I want to hear why you think it's a good idea to-" the Doctor didn't get to finish his question as suddenly, the door was flung open and Donna stepped in, shutting it carefully behind her. "Donna!"

"Off we go then!" Donna said excitedly, walking quickly up the ramp. Cale followed at a more sedate pace.

"Here it is," the Doctor said from his leaning position on the TARDIS main console. He crossed his arms, "the TARDIS. It's bigger on the inside than it is the outside-"

"Oh, I know all that bit." Donna interrupted. She crossed her arms just as the Doctor uncrossed his. "Although, frankly, you could turn the heat up."

"I'd been meanin' to mention that." Cale supported with a smirk and a pointed look.

"Oh," the Doctor acknowledged with a nod of his head. He pushed off from the controls and walked around to the other side, "so, whole wide universe. Where do you wanna go?"

"Oh, I know exactly the place." Donna said cryptically with a smile.

"Which is?" the Doctor prompted. Cale watched on, trying to figure out where exactly it was that she wanted to go.

"Two and a half miles that way." Donna jerked her head over her shoulder. She smiled again.

"Alrighty then!" the Doctor exclaimed, moving about rapidly around the controls. He twisted knobs, pulled levers and banged random parts of the ship and Cale smiled when he heard the familiar whining, grinding sound.

"Where are we goin'?" Cale asked Donna, attempting to be friendly.

"To see my grandfather." Donna replied. She looked over at the Doctor. "I told him to shout for me if he ever saw a little blue box fly by."

"Ah, your wish is my command!" the Doctor grinned at her. "Go on, open the door!"

Donna smiled widely and ran over to the door and flung it open. She spotted her grandfather's red knit cap and waved to him frantically, smiling all the while. She could hear his whoops of joy from all they way down there and grinned even wider. The Doctor and Cale waved too, and suddenly, they were gone, zooming off towards the stars. She sighed, smile still in place, and carefully, almost lovingly, closed the TARDIS' door. She turned around and walked up the ramp to join the Doctor and Cale by the main console.

"You know what I think," Cale said, looking rather impressed, "I think you're brilliant, Donna Noble. You made that old man's entire year."

"I know, isn't it wonderful?" Donna gushed, once again smiling like a loon.

"Yeah, it is," the Doctor said, smiling along with her. Suddenly, he grinned. "Now, Cale, where too?"

"Uh…" Cale paused, mind going completely blank. "I haven't the foggiest."

"How about Ancient Rome?" Donna asked suddenly. She shrugged at the Doctor's odd look. "What? I've always wanted to go there."

The Doctor grinned, then started to laugh, all the while setting the coordinates. "Ancient Rome it is!"

"Do I have to wear a toga?" Cale mused, looking worried.

Donna laughed loudly, then started in harder at Cale's indignant look. This was gonna be great! She knew it would have been, but nothing could have really prepared her for this feeling. Even if they had to drag a long a strange teenager, she really didn't mind. She was with the Doctor. She'd tolerate Cale, short, thin slip of nothing that he was. She'd have to remember to ask the Doctor how they met later, after she got changed for Ancient Roman weather, of course.

EL FIN

(To Be Continued in "Set to Burn".)

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Well, that's all she wrote folks. As soon as I work out a beginning for the next part, I'll have it transcribed and posted. Hope you stay tuned! Oh, and don't forget to sign the guest book, i.e, review!


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